Errors of TƏBIB contributed to the spread of coronavirus

On January 1, 2020, almost all the powers of the Ministry of Health were transferred to TƏBIB, the newly formed organization. For over half a year, all medical organizations (hospitals, clinics, etc.) have been working under the leadership of Ramin Bayramli, the head of TƏBIB. Many people relied hopes on this innovation in the health care development. However, from the very first steps of this new structure, all hopes collapsed - in six months TƏBIB broke so many firewood that people involuntarily begin to pray to the Ministry of Health. Not to be blamed    for bias, let us turn to the facts.

«A festive» from Bayramli

On March 16, 2020, in the midst of the fight against coronavirus, TƏBIB sent out the first general instruction to all medical institutions, asking to present on March 17, before 7 am (!), complete statistical data on the number of patients with respiratory and other diseases, the number of deaths, etc. Moreover, the instruction was sent even to those medical institutions that have nothing to do with this at all - dental clinics, maternity hospitals, Bakzdrav, etc. Well, okay, let us go on. Since the subordinate medical institutions received the directive order at the end of the working day, by 6-7 pm, and for someone even after a couple of days, it was not possible to collect statistics overnight (!) and submit them until 7 am the next day. However, even if we ignore this objective circumstance, the next day, on March 18, a festive day, the head of TƏBIB Ramin Bayramli, by his order No. 4-5 "congratulated" the chief doctors of medical institutions in 70 cities and 42 districts. He signed a "reprimand with entry into a personal file for the performance of official duties not at the proper level and for the failure to provide timely information of “state importance” (it is also unclear why the statistics were elevated to the status of state importance)”. The order also reads, "If this happens again within 6 months, labor contracts with the "guilty" chief doctors will be terminated." Moreover, this happened in a difficult period for the country in the fight against the coronavirus epidemic, in the period of round-the-clock selfless work of doctors with infected patients, at a time when the entire Azerbaijani people, President Ilham Aliyev and Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva, are standing and applauding medical workers in gratitude for their courage and selflessness! It remains only to be surprised at the unique ability of Associate Professor R. Bayramli to build his activities contrary to the policy of the President of the country and the Azerbaijani people in general.

What is TƏBİB silent about?

Further more. On March 17, 2020, comes the next order of the management of TƏBİB R. Bayramli (see the photo of the order) “On home visits by district doctors and nurses to their areas and on the provision of collected information on the population and patients to TƏBİB.

Fulfilling the order of the chair R. Bayramly, the district doctors of the polyclinics began to make rounds in their subordinate areas in order to identify COVID patients among them. They did it without protective suits and disinfectants - TƏBIB provided overalls, masks, gloves and disinfectants to polyclinics much later. The result was not long in coming - an erroneous and, in fact, a criminal directive cost people their health.

The fatal order of the head of TƏBIB caused a massive infection with a coronavirus with a severe form of bilateral croupous pneumonia of 53 (!) Medical workers of the children's polyclinic No. 13 of the Yasamal region (among them - the head physician, deputy head physician, doctors, nurses, junior medical staff). The medical staff of the children's polyclinic No. 13 infected with the coronavirus and the residents of this area were urgently isolated and placed in the “Yeni Clinic”; the clinic itself was closed for a certain time.

A large-scale chain reaction started. Following them, because of the house-to-house visit, about 30 more health workers of the children's polyclinic No. 22 became infected with the coronavirus. Slightly fewer employees were injured in the children's polyclinics No. 7, No. 4 and other polyclinics.

The district doctors and nurses became infected because they made rounds in their areas without special clothing and contacted with the population, among which there were COVID patients. Returning to their polyclinics, doctors and nurses, without knowing it, became carriers of the infection, and re-infected their colleagues and patients, and those, in turn, their families (parents, children, wives, husbands) ... Thus, the number of people infected with coronavirus began to grow. All this happened because of one wrong, but in fact, a criminal step of a dilettante in medicine. Only a couple of weeks after the massive emergency in polyclinics, TƏBIB post factum sent protective equipment for health workers and overalls to polyclinics.

It is not difficult to count how many out of a thousand medical workers infected with coronavirus were injured when executing the order of TƏBIB, which did not ensure the safety of health workers in a dangerous epidemiological situation. On their own conscience, the ambulance doctors infected with the coronavirus, who were forced to travel to numerous calls in the same protective suits, while, according to the protocol, for safety reasons, they are intended for one-time use. It is not difficult to imagine how many of the 102 infected workers of the ambulance could have avoided this fate (including one fatal case) if TƏBIB provided this service with a sufficient amount of protective uniforms in a timely manner.

Do we have the right to close our eyes to this, and where is the guarantee that such irresponsibility of TƏBIB will not happen again? One thing is clear: if an impartial investigation is carried out, and the numbers are not "adjusted" to suit someone's interests, then a large part of the infected doctors will be in children's clinics, which could have been avoided if not for the ominous Order of the head of TƏBIB.

One may ask - how it was possible to send “unarmed” people to a war with mortal danger, and then falsely declare at a briefing, “To date, none of the country's hospitals have reported cases of mass infection with coronavirus. Infection cases are often noted in polyclinics and outpatient departments, as protective equipment is not used properly. Such cases have arisen due to the wrong approach of doctors and medical personnel to their work.

However, this is not all. Moreover, it would have taken on a much more formidable scale, if, after massive infections of the medical staff, the heads of clinics and Bakzdrav would not sound the alarm. After a great number of calls, the head of TƏBİB suddenly understood what is wrong, and canceling his first instruction, on March 23, 2020, issues the second (with four exclamation marks) - “TO ALL HEADS OF MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS!!!!” suspend house-to-house visits by local doctors. All doctors of polyclinics are charged with maintaining a telephone connection with the population living on their territory in order to identify COVID patients and provide results to TƏBIB. "

Further, more - error after error. The result is a complete loss of epidemiological control in the country and a daily rapid increase in the number of infected. It is scary to imagine how all this would have ended for Azerbaijan if it had not been for the strong-willed decision of the country's government to transfer powers over polyclinics and ambulance to the Ministry of Health during the period of the spread of a dangerous infection. Surely, the numbers of COVID patients would have already grown exponentially.

There is a crime, but there is no punishment

One thing is clear - the incompleteness of Associate Professor Ramin Bayramli cost people their health and lives! Who will be responsible for this crime?! How many health workers infected with coronavirus are on the conscience of the head of TƏBIB?

It is clear that for deliberate and unintentional injury to health and for a threat to the life of citizens, the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan punishes fully according to the law, up to imprisonment. Why, in this case, the law does not come into force? After all, the elements of the crime are obvious.

The head of TƏBİB Ramin Bayramli, who is responsible for health care, endangered the life and health of the country's citizens with one wrong step. Obviously, the relevant authorities have yet to sort out this issue, and find out how many of the people affected by the coronavirus, including health workers, are on the conscience of the head of TƏBIB? .. So why is there negligence, but no punishment? Why does a state official responsible for the epidemiological situation in the country and the health of the population contribute to the spread of the epidemic, but does not bear responsibility for his non-professional directives?

One may ask: why an infected person who escaped from quarantine is punished for the danger of spreading the infection, and the person, who contributed to the mass infection,  remains unpunished, and even continues to be responsible for the health of the nation?! Can people trust their health and the health of children to such a person?!

Summary:  Today, Azerbaijani doctors and residents of the country are afraid not of the coronavirus, and not even of the economic crisis, but of the non-compact management of the chair of TƏBIB, who is responsible for our health. Apparently, we all have to suffer more than once because of his orders, if, of course, appropriate measures are not taken in relation to this "doer."

The person who was entrusted with preventing the spread of a dangerous virus in the country, by his irresponsible decisions, created the basis for the spread of a dangerous infection.  It is high time to protect society from such incompetent leaders who are responsible for the health of the entire nation.

Otherwise, all the efforts of the President come to naught, thanks to such erroneous orders, laboratory assistants by vocation, for whom analyzes are more important than results ...

From its first steps, the newly created TƏBIB completely discredited itself as a structure that does not own the general epidemiological situation in the country, and does not have an idea of ​​the location of medical institutions, structure, etc. If there were not timely measures of the country's leadership, if there were not the old healthcare personnel who really know their work, the epidemiological situation in the country would have developed according to a completely different scenario.

Finally, a small touch to the portrait of the "assistant professor". In a difficult economic period, the President of the country increases the salaries of medical workers fivefold, but “His Majesty Ramin”, makes his own corrections and cuts the payment of doctors who save COVID patients. What shall I tell this businessman from medicine?! Is it right to trust the most valuable thing - the health of the nation, to this person with a tainted reputation?!