In St. Petersburg, parents of children with disabilities asked Governor Alexander Beglov to legally allow them to stay with their children if they were hospitalized with coronavirus.

The authors of the letter draw attention to the fact that a person with serious mental disabilities “is under extreme stress and is not able to understand why he was left alone” when he is separated from his parents and brought to the hospital.

In addition, the care of patients with special needs falls on the shoulders of doctors and nurses who are overworked due to the pandemic.

Parents ask the city authorities to organize a special observatory in which they can stay with their children during their treatment and isolation.

"Some strangers around"

The 19-year-old son of Irina Lavrenteva from the city of Pushkin suffers from an organic lesion of the central nervous system: he does not move or speak.

On December 7, he was hospitalized with bilateral pneumonia and suspected coronavirus at the Aleksandrovskaya Hospital. 

“Tolya was taken to the intensive care unit, and for the next ten days I could not get in touch with him.

The only way to find out something about his condition is to call the intensive care unit from one to two hours, ”says RT Irina.

According to her, she asked doctors to send her a photo or video of her son.

But the doctors refused, since filming in the intensive care unit is prohibited.

The woman wrote a letter to the head physician with a request to individually allow her to visit her son.

She explained that it would be difficult for the attending doctors to assess the condition of Tolya, since the boy cannot voice his complaints.

Irina did not wait for an answer - her child was discharged earlier.

His diagnosis of coronavirus was not confirmed.

“He was discharged on December 17, at home I examined my son and was horrified: there were bloody bedsores on my knees, elbows, legs, and a sutured wound on my chin.

I documented these injuries (photos are at the disposal of RT), began to call doctors, find out what was the matter.

I was told that he allegedly hit the side of the bed, but this is nonsense - my son does not move on his own, ”the interlocutor says.

  • According to Irina, wounds on her son's body appeared after being discharged from intensive care.

  • © Photo from personal archive

Irina suggests that Tolya could have gotten out of the wheelchair during transportation and hit his chin, since he cannot hold his back on his own.

Bedsores, according to Irina, indicate inadequate care.

“My son, of course, was wildly happy when I took him out of the hospital,” says Irina.

- He is still stressed from the fact that he suddenly found himself without a mother and spent more than a week in an unfamiliar environment, when there were only strangers, aliens around him.

Unfortunately, we will be treating the consequences of his hospitalization for a long time. ”

Are left without care

In early December this year, an initiative group of parents of children with disabilities and young people with disabilities after the age of 18 turned to the Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov with a request to "organize special conditions for the treatment of disabled people with developmental disabilities who cannot serve themselves." 

The authors of the letter noted that children and adults with serious developmental disabilities after being hospitalized with suspected coronavirus find themselves without loved ones and care, which is vital for them. 

The problem is that doctors and nurses often lack the capacity and competence to properly care for a patient with special needs.

So, a disabled person who does not speak speech will not be able to voice their complaints, ask to go to the toilet (especially if he does not walk), drink or eat.

The press service of the governor of St. Petersburg, RT, reported that the appeal of the parents of disabled children is now being considered by the city administration.

The final decision on this issue will be made by January 15 next year.

“Parents and volunteers can take care of severe and bedridden patients in hospitals in consultation with the attending physician.

In each specific case, the admission of such persons is coordinated by a specially appointed employee of the hospital.

You have to understand that now, during a pandemic, it is very difficult to agree that parents should be allowed to see a patient in intensive care, since this contradicts any epidemiological norms, ”the ministry's press service explained.

Parents are afraid of hospitalization

In turn, social activists who work with seriously ill people note that the problem existed in our country before, but the pandemic has exacerbated it.

According to the law, parents of disabled children over 15 years of age usually do not have the opportunity to take care of them in a hospital: when a child is hospitalized, they are not given a sick leave, as well as a bed in a medical facility.

In December, the Russian government made it easier for social workers to access hospitals to care for their caregivers from boarding schools and nursing homes.

Svetlana Mamonova, director of external relations of the St. Petersburg charitable organization Perspektivy, considers the resolution to be correct, but notes that it does not completely solve the problem.

According to her, in most social institutions for the disabled and the elderly, there are so few employees - they do not have the energy and time to organize constant escort for their wards in hospitals.

In addition, the question of what to do for a parent of a disabled child remains unresolved if the adult is hospitalized with suspected coronavirus.

According to Mamonova, parents write refusals from their own hospitalization so that their children are not temporarily placed in boarding schools.

“The boarding school is the most terrible place for a disabled child and his parents.

It is necessary for the state to organize guest houses where you can place a child who is temporarily left without parental care.

For example, in St. Petersburg in every district there are rehabilitation centers with temporary residences.

There you can allocate beds for the crisis placement of disabled children: in such centers, as a rule, there are good conditions, a home, more familiar environment, "Mamonova explained in an interview with RT.

The St. Petersburg Association of Public Associations of Parents of Disabled Children "GAOORDI" told that officially hospitals are encouraged to create additional posts of junior medical staff in order to look after special patients.

As emphasized in the organization, in fact, patients complain about the lack of necessary assistance.

"And in order to achieve the implementation of even this point, additional clarification is often required from the Ministry of Health to a specific medical institution," the association said to RT's request.

According to RT interlocutors, there are specially created observation centers in Russia, where children and young people with disabilities who become ill with coronavirus can undergo treatment, including with one of the parents.

However, "such examples are, alas, only a few," added the public organization.

One of these institutions for disabled children and their parents is the Moscow Observatory, which has been operating since November at the Tsaritsyno Rehabilitation Center for Disabled People.

Children and young people with disabilities who have contracted coronavirus and need isolation outside the home are treated here.

One of the parents may be near them.

Children who were left alone after their parents or guardians were taken to the hospital also come here.