Radio Free never accepts money from corporations, governments or billionaires – keeping the focus on supporting independent media for people, not profits. Since 2010, Radio Free has supported the work of thousands of independent journalists, learn more about how your donation helps improve journalism for everyone.

Make a monthly donation of any amount to support independent media.





“Be like Nina”: how a Ukrainian nurse organised a protest movement

We raised the issue of salaries at the protest. Mykhailo Radutskyi [head of the Ukrainian parliamentary committee on health] came out to us and promised a wage increase. “Everything will be fine, just wait a bit,” he said. But a year has passed, and my salary has grown by only 500 hryvnia [approximately $17], though they said that we should start receiving 800 dollars a month, like in other countries.

In February, we held a second protest – this time about the medical reform. About 200 people came out in Kyiv, and even more in Lviv. In 2018, the Suprun reform was launched [Ulyana Suprun was acting minister of health until August 2019]. Then the government changed, but the reform was never properly planned out. How is it going to end? It was planned to reduce the number of hospitals: at the moment, tuberculosis, epidemiological and psychiatric services are being destroyed.

Hospitals have become inaccessible to people living outside city centres. There are problems with delivering emergency patients: this hospital won’t accept them, that one is closed. We have suggested that the reform be reviewed with the help of the medical community. Unfortunately, we were not heard.

In some hospitals, people who actively speak out about problems are bullied”

In the beginning, even people from the medical community treated us with distrust and suspicion. All sorts of rumours were circulating. People said that we had been set up with the help of some politician. People asked who pays me. It was painful. If you write the truth, fight for justice, then surely, it seems, someone pays for it? But over time – after we got to know each other, started meeting, they saw that we really are from the people and there’s no one “behind us”.

When the pandemic began, and patients started being placed in our hospital’s infectious diseases department, we were told that there were no masks. “Buy and sew them yourself,” we were told. I went live on Facebook and raised this issue. And our infectious disease specialist wrote that she had not been given a protective suit. People shared these posts, and thanks to this, volunteers began to help us. At the beginning of the pandemic, volunteers were providing 80% of our equipment.

Sometime after this broadcast on Facebook, I had a phone call from the police. They said that I had received a letter from the Security Service of Ukraine [SBU]. The director of the hospital had complained that I was “spreading false information”. I explained everything to the policeman, one person to another. He laughed and that was the end of it.

Print
Print Share Comment Cite Upload Translate Updates

Leave a Reply

APA

Hanna Sokolova | Radio Free (2020-12-15T04:00:05+00:00) “Be like Nina”: how a Ukrainian nurse organised a protest movement. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2020/12/15/be-like-nina-how-a-ukrainian-nurse-organised-a-protest-movement/

MLA
" » “Be like Nina”: how a Ukrainian nurse organised a protest movement." Hanna Sokolova | Radio Free - Tuesday December 15, 2020, https://www.radiofree.org/2020/12/15/be-like-nina-how-a-ukrainian-nurse-organised-a-protest-movement/
HARVARD
Hanna Sokolova | Radio Free Tuesday December 15, 2020 » “Be like Nina”: how a Ukrainian nurse organised a protest movement., viewed ,<https://www.radiofree.org/2020/12/15/be-like-nina-how-a-ukrainian-nurse-organised-a-protest-movement/>
VANCOUVER
Hanna Sokolova | Radio Free - » “Be like Nina”: how a Ukrainian nurse organised a protest movement. [Internet]. [Accessed ]. Available from: https://www.radiofree.org/2020/12/15/be-like-nina-how-a-ukrainian-nurse-organised-a-protest-movement/
CHICAGO
" » “Be like Nina”: how a Ukrainian nurse organised a protest movement." Hanna Sokolova | Radio Free - Accessed . https://www.radiofree.org/2020/12/15/be-like-nina-how-a-ukrainian-nurse-organised-a-protest-movement/
IEEE
" » “Be like Nina”: how a Ukrainian nurse organised a protest movement." Hanna Sokolova | Radio Free [Online]. Available: https://www.radiofree.org/2020/12/15/be-like-nina-how-a-ukrainian-nurse-organised-a-protest-movement/. [Accessed: ]
rf:citation
» “Be like Nina”: how a Ukrainian nurse organised a protest movement | Hanna Sokolova | Radio Free | https://www.radiofree.org/2020/12/15/be-like-nina-how-a-ukrainian-nurse-organised-a-protest-movement/ |

Please log in to upload a file.




There are no updates yet.
Click the Upload button above to add an update.

You must be logged in to translate posts. Please log in or register.