Third Russian Doctor Plunges from Hospital Window Following Coronavirus Pressures
Dr. Alexander Shulepov warned of PPE shortages in Voronezh city, Russia
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A third Russian doctor has plunged from the window of a hospital treating COVID-19 patients following immense pressures on health workers battling the coronavirus in Russia.
37-year-old Alexander Shulepov is now fighting for his life with head injuries just days after complaining about medics facing intolerable pressures amid the pandemic.
Shulepov recently took part in a video claiming he was ordered to work despite testing positive for the deadly Chinese virus.
The doctor and his colleagues were also warning about PPE shortages in Voronezh city.
In a later second video, filmed while lying in a coronavirus hospital bed, Shulepov retracted his previous claims sparking suspicions he was pressured to do so.
While being treated at Novousmanskaya district hospital on Saturday, the experienced ambulance doctor plunged from a second-floor window sustaining severe skull fractures. He is now in a grave condition.
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Two senior women doctors in Russia have died recently after falling from hospital windows amid reports they had challenged their superiors over a lack of PPE for coronavirus patients, according to The Daily Mail.
Shulepov was filmed with paramedic colleague Alexander Kosyakin who - a day earlier - had been summoned by police under suspicion of spreading fake news after complaining about PPE shortages.
Their hospital chiefs claimed the allegations were untrue, but the medics believed Shulepov's infection proved the lack of protective equipment.
In the video, Kosyakin said: "Ambulance doctor Alexander Shulepov is next to me, he is just confirmed COVID-19.
"The chief doctor is forcing us to work, what do we do in this situation?
"We are not leaving the shift…
"Myself and Alexander have been working together for a month.
"This is the situation.
"Everyone says it's fake (but) these are real facts for you."
Three days later, after being hospitalized, Shulepov recorded a video claiming his condition had improved.
"I have a runny nose, otherwise, all is well," he said.
He claimed that in the earlier video "we were high on emotions" and that after he was found to be COVID-19 positive, he was taken off his shift.
This has led to allegations that he was forced to record a message from his sickbed to clear his hospital bosses.
Hospital chief doctor Igor Potanin has refused to comment.
In another case, Dr. Natalya Lebedeva, 48, plunged 60ft to her death from the sixth floor of a Moscow hospital after colleagues said she was unfairly blamed for the spread of coronavirus at her clinic in Star City, near Moscow, the training center for cosmonauts.
She had become infected from COVID-19.
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Dr. Yelena Nepomnyashchaya, 47, a mother of two, sustained fatal injuries after falling 60ft from a window at her Krasnoyarsk hospital.
Colleagues said she had complained about an "acute shortage" of personal protection equipment for doctors and nurses.
It came as Russia recorded a new record rise in coronavirus infections on Sunday with 10,633 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 134,687.
Deaths in the country also rose by 58 to 1,280 as Russia is now recording more new infections than any European country.
Front-line medical workers have been hit hard with the Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin admitting around 2,000 suffering from coronavirus in the capital city.
