Situation with COVID-19 in Dagestan remains most alarming in Russia, Ministry for Public Health reports

After an appeal of Dagestani doctors to the Russian President, the Russian Minister for Public Health has stated that the spread of the coronavirus infection in Dagestan and the provision of medical care for infected patients in the republic cause more fears than the situation in other regions.

Shamil Khadulaev, the chairman of the Coordination Council of the Dagestani NGOs, claimed that the authorities of Dagestan appeared to be not ready for the epidemic: hospitals faced the lack of beds and equipment.

On May 4, the "Community of Doctors of the Republic of Dagestan" and the Foundation for Patriotic Youth Education sent an appeal to the President of Russia. In their appeal, activists questioned the official statistics with regard to the rate and scale of the spread of the coronavirus infection.

"The official data on the infected, sick and dead from COVID-19 are extremely underestimated ... In early May, NGOs detected more than 4500 patients and 157 dead," claim the activists in their appeal as reported by the "Novoye Delo" (New Cause).

"In almost all cities of the republic," hospitals are crowded with coronavirus-infected patients, but patients suffering from other diseases are not hospitalized.

According to the authors of the appeal, Dagestan faces an acute shortage of masks and personal protective gear for medical personnel, medicines, and modern artificial pulmonary ventilation devices.

"High case rate and mortality among medical personnel, lack of qualified specialists," the authors of the appeal list the republic's problems.