You're reading: Doctors stage silent protest against actions of Tymoshenko’s visitors

Kharkiv – Employees of Kharkiv-based Central Clinical Hospital No. 5, where former Ukrainian Premier Yulia Tymoshenko is undergoing treatment, staged a silent protest in the hall of the clinic on Thursday, Jan.17. 

According to an Interfax-Ukraine reporter, some 15 people, including employees of the intensive care unit, which is located on the same floor as the ex-premier’s ward, participated in the protest.

“We are staging a silent protest against the disgraceful things that have been taking place on the territory of the clinic, and particularly at our unit, for more than a month,” said the chief of the clinic’s intensive care unit, Yuriy Fedorov.

He stressed that his unit treats patients in the most critical condition.

“Lawlessness has been taking place here in recent months. We face problems with entering the clinic, transporting patients and with passing sanitary checks, as due to regular visits of strangers, including people’s deputies, they constantly restrict traffic. The people’s deputies have one goal. Their goal is Yulia Volodymyrivna [Tymoshenko], while my goal is to save lives of common citizens. We will stand here silently to draw the whole country’s attention to the situation,” Fedorov said.

The chairman of the clinic’s trade union, Ihor Kharchenko, noted that the doctors are not going to demand that Tymoshenko be transferred to another place.

“We won’t put forward any demands to transfer her or anything else. This is not in our competence. We just want our clinic to return to a normal regime,” Kharchenko said.

According to him, they planned to hold the protest for not more than one hour.

According to an Interfax-Ukraine reporter, the protest lasted for around 10 minutes, after which the protesters left for their work places.