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All over the world only a few countries have yet to officially report coronavirus cases. Some of them are small remote islands that closed their borders early and still don’t allow outsiders to enter. So their statistics have no reason to doubt. However, COVID-19 assures North Korea and Turkmenistan, which are devoid of dictatorship and state propaganda.
The government’s statements in the latter both surprise and ridicule the world. Turkmenistan, for example, announced in July that it would introduce mandatory vaccination of adults against COVID-19, although the authoritarian government of this Central Asian state affirms that there are no cases of contagion in the country. However, limited tourism, mass religious events, distance calling, and wearing of masks are encouraged.
The BBC describes the story of a Turkmen with coronavirus:
Sajahat Kurbanov (name changed) suffocated. He tried to inhale like he was running a marathon. The chest pain was excruciating. All the symptoms of the coronavirus occurred.
The problem is that he was in Turkmenistan, where officially there are no such patients.
When he called an ambulance in August, the doctor told him the diagnosis: pneumonia, he needed to go to the emergency hospital. Kurbanov knew that the country’s doctors called COVID-19 cases pneumonia.
On the way to the hospital, he was able to call a clinic where he was being tested for COVID-19 a few days ago. “Positive,” heard a calm voice. “What is positive,” he exclaimed? “Is it COVID?” “Yes!” The voice replied.
Only later did he learn that if his COVID-19 test was positive in Turkmenistan, he would not receive any documents.
The first hospital he was taken to refused to accept him: it was full.
“I almost died on the way …” Kurbanov said. – There was no air … The virus moved so fast. I started banging on the windows and yelling: stop, I can’t breathe! They gave me oxygen, but it didn’t help much. “
The first hospital he was taken to refused to accept him: it was full.
Another hospital refused to admit him, but for another reason, it was prohibited from accepting patients who were not registered in the country’s capital, Ashgabat.
“I started to panic. I asked the doctor: what should I do? Die here? ”S. Kurbanov said. Then he called a doctor he knew and asked for help. After some sharp calls and conversations, he was finally admitted to the hospital.
AFP / “Scanpix” nuotr./Turkmėnija
The man’s health did not improve for five days. “I couldn’t breathe in, everything inside me seemed to be stuck together. The panic attacks started because I couldn’t breathe. I felt like I was submerged under water and couldn’t come to the surface,” the man recalled.
He asked the nurses to give him medication just to ease the pain. Arriving at a hospital in Turkmenistan does not always mean that you will receive treatment, Kurbanov said. Doctors often ignore patients, not even nurses, unless someone more important calls the right people.
Getting to a hospital in Turkmenistan does not always mean receiving treatment.
The hospital had such a terrible staff shortage that a couple of nurses had to care for more than 60 people. There were cases where the cleaner injected drugs, Kurbanov said.
The nurses shared stories of patients who stabbed in front of their eyes and died because there was no lung ventilator and oxygen machines were not working.
Reuters / Photo by Scanpix / Turkmen
Doctors changed S. Kurbanov’s treatment several times. He spent about 2,000. The dollar for medicines and bribes is a large amount in Turkmenistan. He was finally released from the hospital 10 days later.
In the foreign press, Turkmens talk about the third wave of COVID-19, but hardly anyone in the country dares to talk about it.
The Turkmen authorities do not disclose the number of coronavirus cases. President Gurbangulis Berdimuhamedov, a former dentist, especially likes to use the image of a healthy nation for propaganda. Recognizing that a nation is suffering from a pandemic would undermine the legitimacy of its regime.
Scanpix / AP Photo / Turkmenistan President Gurbangulis Berdimuhamedov
Still, one case almost revealed the letters. A Turkish diplomat fell ill in Ashgabat. Kemal Uckun experienced the typical symptoms of the coronavirus: chest pain, fever, sweating. They diagnosed him with pneumonia.
Guzide Uckun sent chest X-rays of the man to Turkish hospitals and all confirmed that the man was sick with COVID-19.
He desperately tried to get Uckun to Turkey, but the Turkmen authorities reportedly did not allow it, despite the man reportedly being airlifted with medical equipment. The permit was granted only hours after his death.
The diplomat’s body was embalmed and experts could not find any trace of the coronavirus.
The permit was granted only hours after his death.
The Turkmen authorities have introduced some measures to handle the pandemic, but they say that it is only prevention and that there are still no cases of COVID-19 in the country.
When Kurbanov was being treated in the hospital, no one used the words “coronavirus” or “COVID.” “They used to say ‘this virus’ or ‘this disease,'” the man said. – I printed them: ‘Why don’t you say what it is? Is that COVID? They just nodded silently. “
While in the hospital, he received a warning message from the authorities. Encourage people to wear masks because there is a lot of dust in the air.
“Are we dying from the dust? – said S. Kurbanov. “They will allow people to die, but they will never admit that there is a coronavirus in the country.”
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