Two years have passed since the incident with Ogtay Gyulalyev: the Prosecutor's Office is silent

Baku/29.10.21/Turan: Today two years have passed  since the time when a well-known human rights activist Ogtay Gyulalyev was hit by a car in the center of Baku. As a result, he suffered a head injury and was taken to the Emergency Medical Hospital fully conscious and able to move independently. However, for reasons still unclear, from October 29 to October 30, 2019, his condition worsened due to a cerebral hemorrhage. The doctors of the hospital and the Baku City Hospital where he was admitted on the same day did not take the necessary steps to save the patient who fell into a coma. Subsequently, only after the intervention of the vice-president's office, he was operated on and the loan was delivered to Turkey for treatment with the assistance of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.

For some unknown reason, the prosecutor's office still cannot establish why Gyulalyev was brought to his dying state. The Prosecutor's Office of the Nasimi District and the General Prosecutor's Office have repeatedly promised to bring the case to its logical conclusion. It was even separated in September 2020 into a separate office work. But on December 25, 2020, the prosecutor's office refused to initiate a criminal case.

Firuza Gyulalyeva, the wife of human rights activist Ogtay Gyulalyev, appealed to the Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan Kamran Aliyev on January 7, 2021, with a statement about the need to bring to justice the doctors, through whose fault Ogtay has been in a coma for more than a year. There was no response, although the prosecutor's office and the prosecutor general personally declared their interest in investigating the "doctors' case."

After the letter was made public, on January 25, the prosecutor's office of the Nasimi district, under the personal control of the prosecutor general, reopens the investigation. But so far there has been no result, despite all the deadlines for the investigation.

Investigative actions against the doctors began immediately after the accident on October 29, 2019, when Gyulaliyev was hit by a car at the intersection of May 28 and Pushkin streets. He was fully conscious and without any bruises, except for a head injury. He was taken by the driver who hit him to the 1st Clinical Hospital. He could move independently and even wanted to go home. According to doctors, primary tomography (MRI) did not reveal intracranial hemorrhage. What happened next is indicated in the letter to the Attorney General, published below.

It should be noted that the trial in the case was postponed with a legislative justification that Ogtay Gyulalyev to be present at the trial, which was absurd then and now. Only after the demarches of the family and public indignation, a year after the accident, the trial on the fact of the car hitting Gyulalyev began. This delay caused various suspicions about the involvement of the authorities in the incident. As for the doctors' case, the situation is more serious and the actions of the prosecutor's office give grounds for versions of deliberate failure to provide assistance or about the incompetence of doctors and paroxysmal negligence.  The case is not just Gyulalyev. Do such medical facilities pose a threat to people's lives? This is no longer a private but a public problem.

In case of severe traumatic brain injury, the medicine says, “A person who has received a head injury needs medical help.

The ambulance takes the victim to the traumatology department or to intensive care. There the patient is examined, if necessary, an X-ray of the skull, neck, thoracic and lumbar spine, chest, pelvis and extremities is done, an ultrasound of the chest and abdominal cavity is performed, blood and urine are taken for analysis. An ECG may also be prescribed. In the absence of contraindications (state of shock), CT of the brain is done. Then the patient is examined by a traumatologist, surgeon and neurosurgeon and diagnosed.

A neurologist examines the patient every 4 hours and assesses his condition on the Glasgow scale. In case of impaired consciousness, the patient is shown tracheal intubation. A patient in a state of stupor or coma is prescribed artificial ventilation. Patients with hematomas and cerebral edema are regularly measured intracranial pressure.

The victims are prescribed antiseptic, antibacterial therapy. If necessary, anticonvulsants, analgesics, magnesia, glucocorticoids, sedatives.

Patients with hematoma require surgery. Delaying surgery within the first four hours increases the risk of death to 90.

In case of severe hematoma, the risk of death increases to 30–40%. Among the survived there is almost one hundred percent disabled. Its causes are severe mental and speech disorders, epilepsy, meningitis, encephalitis, brain abscesses, etc.

A complex of rehabilitation measures provided in relation to the patient after stop of acute phase is of great importance in the patient's return to an active life.

Directions of rehabilitation after traumatic brain injury

World statistics show that $1 invested in rehabilitation today will save $17 to ensure the victim's life tomorrow. Rehabilitation after brain injury is carried out by a neurologist, a rehabilitologist, a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, a massage therapist, a psychologist, a neuropsychologist, a speech therapist and other specialists. Their activity, as a rule, is aimed at returning the patient to a socially active life. The work to restore the patient's body is largely determined by the severity of the injury. In case of severe injury, the efforts of doctors are aimed at restoring the functions of breathing and swallowing, at improving the functioning of the pelvic organs. Specialists are working on the restoration of higher mental functions (perception, imagination, memory, thinking, speech) that could have been lost."

The Turkish doctors who examined Gyulalyev were astonished by the actions of the Azerbaijani doctors, whose actions could be regarded as attackers. Because of incredible efforts, Turkish doctors from the Avrasia Clinics and the American Hospital in Istanbul managed to save Gyulalyev's life. However, all this was done thanks to the assistance of First Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva. In Baku, the operation was carried out by doctors of the Republican Neurosurgical Clinic literally at the very last moment - at noon on October 30, 2019, on the verge of death. Subsequently, the delivery of Gyulalyev to Turkey and his treatment were provided by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. After returning home on November 8 last year, further treatment was entrusted to TƏBİB.

Ogtay Gyulalyev deserves attention, because he is a person who has always reacted to the troubles of people and it is not without exaggeration that he assisted thousands of citizens, despite persecution. He is one of the brightest human rights defender in Azerbaijan. –0—