Former political prisoner Piotr Marchanka: "Healthcare in prison is always a hopeless case"
As part of the Week of Solidarity with Political Prisoners in Belarus, Viasna has prepared a number of videos where former political prisoners share their stories about substandard and untimely medical care in places of detention. Former political prisoner and musician Piotr Marchanka recalled how the whole cell fell ill at once in a pre-trial detention center, but a doctor was not called.
"First of all, healthcare in prison always takes very long. Secondly, it is always a hopeless case. I dealt with healthcare in the pre-trial detention centre at Valadarskaha, but, thank God, not at Akrescina. It was more interesting in Valadarka prison. First of all, you are examined when you come in. At Valadarka, a doctor examines you. In reality, it's just three seconds and that's it: go ahead, you're ready.
If you get sick in custody, then get ready for a very long process, because they'll maybe examine you quickly if you're dying already. When in winter everyone in our cell started to get sick, especially when new people came, immediately a new microbiota appeared and it started.
"The main thing is to save your health." May 21 is the Day of Political Prisoners
When all of us got sick, we asked for the doctor, we asked for him every day, at every check-up, morning and evening. We asked: "Send us a doctor, we're sick." They said: "Yes, he'll come now." And then the first day went by, the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth. No result. We got angry, and I started banging on the door and calling the head of the pre-trial detention center. "What's going on?" I said: "We can't see a doctor, for five days we've been almost dying here." And what do you think happened next? After 5 minutes, the feeder opened and they started throwing some kind of medicines into the cell. They even gave us some pills for the nose: I've never heard of them giving such a thing! So they gave us paracetamol and some powders. The doctor, however, did not come. But they settled the issue, so to say."
Stories of former political prisoners:
"I started to lose consciousness," Vadzim Khizhniakou on the consequences of mold allergy in a prison cell
"You can't physically walk in this state." Volha Loika spoke about medical care in a pre-trial detention center
"Being sick in prison is equivalent to death." Volha Rytus on medical care in detention
"I had an airsoft pellet in my leg." Kanstantsin Karnei on medical care at Akrescina
