← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · madrussian
Thread ID: 17046 | Posts: 7 | Started: 2005-03-01
2005-03-01 17:12 | User Profile
*This may as well be directed against whites in that country. But of course, that particular aspect is unmentionable and hardly deserves any coverage. *
Reports from Turkmenistan say President Niyazov has ordered the closure of all the hospitals in the country except those in the capital, Ashgabat.
The order, announced by a government spokesman, is part of the president's radical health care policies.
Thousands of medical workers have already been sacked under the plan.
Civil rights activists have accused the president of sacrificing public services in favour of vast projects that glorify his regime.
President Niyazov apparently took the decision to close the hospitals at a meeting with local officials on Monday.
"Why do we need such hospitals?" he said. "If people are ill, they can come to Ashgabat."
For the Turkmens, it means the end of a nationwide health service already on its knees.
There are few able doctors and little medicine in rural Turkmen hospitals, and last year President Niyazov sacked 15,000 medical workers, replacing them with army conscripts. However the local hospital was the only place for sick people to go - especially those without the funds to travel to Ashgabat for treatment.
The foreign community will be horrified by the decision.
President Niyazov is well known for his idiosyncratic orders, but it is extraordinary for a head of state to take such a step.
At the same time, the president has also ordered the closure of rural libraries, saying they are pointless because village Turkmens do not read.
Criticism of the president is not allowed in Turkmenistan, but civil rights activists abroad say he has destroyed social services while spending millions of dollars of public money on grand projects, such as gold statues of the leader and a vast marble and gold mosque, one of the biggest in Asia.
2005-03-01 17:15 | User Profile
[B][I] - "This may as well be directed against whites in that country."[/I][/B]
Rather unlikely, since most of Turkmenistan's remaining Whites happen to live precisely in Ashgabat which is excluded from this decree...
I think it's just more of Turkmenbashi's wacky antics, like this:
[COLOR=Navy][B]"President Niyazov of Turkmenistan has ordered the construction of a palace made of ice in the heart of his desert country, one of the hottest on earth." [/B] [/COLOR]
[url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3554626.stm[/url]
Petr
2005-03-01 17:18 | User Profile
last year President Niyazov sacked 15,000 medical workers
You think those were Turkmens?
2005-03-01 17:21 | User Profile
[I]"There are few able doctors and little medicine in rural Turkmen hospitals, and last year President Niyazov sacked 15,000 medical workers, replacing them with army conscripts."[/I]
The odds of doctors (or any other people) being White are considerably smaller in the countryside than in the capital, where the remaining Whites are clustered.
And Niyazov has already demonstrated that he can perfectly well do harm to Turkmen as well:
[I]"At the same time, the president has also ordered the closure of rural libraries, saying they are pointless because village Turkmens do not read."[/I]
Petr
2005-03-01 17:23 | User Profile
Did a google search in Russian and the very first article said that it's the province where qualified doctors were still available, paradoxically, unlike their capital where qualified doctors had been kicked out long time ago replaced with semi-literate Turkmens.
A while ago there was news of Turkmenbashi making Russians either give up their dual Russian citizenship or force more discrimination. All other former Soviet republics naturally allow dual citizenship.
As usual, Petr, you ASSume too much :yawn:
2005-03-01 17:25 | User Profile
I sure wouldn't be surprised if this kook Niyazov would have anti-Russian policies as well - his aim seems to be to surpass North Korea as a cultic dictatorship.
(And you could have provided a link to that article on doctors, Mr. Tact)
Petr
2005-03-02 04:45 | User Profile
[url]http://www.dogryyol.com/article/5821.html[/url]
You are welcome, Mr. Tact :D