{"id":47108,"date":"2021-02-20T12:26:56","date_gmt":"2021-02-20T12:26:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=164880"},"modified":"2021-02-20T12:26:56","modified_gmt":"2021-02-20T12:26:56","slug":"in-tajikistan-covid-19-patients-families-scoff-at-pledge-of-free-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/02\/20\/in-tajikistan-covid-19-patients-families-scoff-at-pledge-of-free-treatment\/","title":{"rendered":"In Tajikistan, COVID-19 Patients, Families Scoff At Pledge Of ‘Free Treatment’"},"content":{"rendered":"
Abdurahmon Rahmonov recalls being admitted to Dushanbe’s Shifobakhsh Hospital in the early summer with high fever, breathing difficulties, and other symptoms attributed to COVID-19.<\/p>\n
It was the apparent height of the epidemic in Tajikistan, where, after initially denying the existence of any coronavirus infections in the country, authorities had pledged that all state-run medical facilities would provide free medical treatment for COVID-19 patients.<\/p>\n
However, Rahmonov — like many others — soon discovered that official promises of free medical care were empty promises.<\/p>\n
“The moment I reached the hospital, I was given a list of medications and was told I must pay for them. I saw that other patients were paying, too, for the medications that were supposed to be free,” Rahmonov, 55, told RFE\/RL.<\/p>\n
“When we complained, the doctors told us that ‘free medical treatment’ promised by the government only covers the fee for use of the hospital bed and the services of the medics.”<\/p>\n
Rahmonov said he paid the equivalent of around $500 in medical bills at the beginning of his eight-day hospital stay. It’s a significant sum in Central Asia’s most impoverished country, where the average salary is about $150 a month.<\/p>\n
RFE\/RL correspondents in Tajikistan spoke to dozens of former COVID-19 patients or family members of such patients in the capital, Dushanbe, and other cities and villages. Nearly all of them claimed to have been billed for “everything.”<\/p>\n