#Remembrance wall - it is not necessary for the dead, it is for the living

«Once, 10 years ago, we went to Malaya Sadovaya Street with a protest against disruption. We came out in despair but with hope. And we won. The current situation is very similar to that time. Only worse. Then to be heard one could scream loudly. And now, unfortunately, this is such a quiet picket. A quiet call to the health committee to acknowledge the death of coronavirus doctors. We were becoming more wary that the police would remove these portraits. They did not do it. This is a silent reproach and cry of the soul that must be heard. Thank you very much to all the journalists who help to draw public attention to the Wall of Remembrance and to the problem, and to the citizens for the flowers they bring here and the masks that are hung next to the portraits of doctors».
Irina Maslova Leader of the sex worker rights movement “Silver Rose”, “Astarta” Foundation

Problem

From the beginning of the epidemic, it was clear that the first who came across it were doctors, infectious disease doctors. Those doctors who have always been our friends and our colleagues. These were the doctors, who treated our HIV-positive people. And it became clear that the country is not ready for an epidemic. Then at the end of March, most did not understand the scale of the disaster.

The first bell was the appeal of doctors of the St. Petersburg city Pokrovskaya hospital, in which they reported a lack of protective equipment. Just a couple of days later, WHO was informed that in a number of countries mass infection of medical workers began to occur. This alarming trend reached 10%!

In the hospitals of our city there were no corny protective suits. I know that in the same Botkin hospital for a long time doctors used ordinary medical masks.

By May 14, in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, 69 people died due to coronavirus, 21 of them are medical staff.

Solution

Despite the fact that our state system is quite conservative and not very operational, after the widely publicized this problem, remedies began to come to the city’s hospitals, including as humanitarian aid from business. But the doctors still continued to die.

In late April, doctors began to create a remembrance list by themselves. The list, which included the names of their colleagues, doctors, nurses, who got infected with coronavirus at work and died.

We created the Wall of Remembrance. We wrote a post on Facebook, which turned out to be resonant. More than 120 empathetic people shared it. And that was just the beginning. Federal and international journalists became interested in the issue and helped to attract the general public to this problem.

And we managed to reach the authorities. The Wall of Remembrance to this day remains in place. The issue of protecting physicians is on the highest level of agenda.

This is probably the most important thing that happened in these few days.

But the fight against coronavirus continues for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region. If we started the wall of Remembrance with 9 photos, today there are already 17 names in this list of dead physicians.

Result

Our struggle continues. Doctors still need protective and preventive measures. The state must recognize their death in the workplace. However, I can say many thanks to the infectious disease specialists of our Botkin hospital. This is one of the safest places for people with coronavirus. Many thanks to that that there is not one dead physician in this hospital. Thanks to them for the fact that when this madhouse against  COVID-19 ends, we will have a chance and our HIV-positives will have a chance to continue treatment, continue to live.