Ill people announce “blasé” deputies’ names
Today people, ill with tuberculosis, AIDS and hepatitis addressed to the president of Ukraine Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych to save their lives by giving a special order to allot UAH 1 billion for the 2013 budget for their treatment.This appeal was signed by 117 public institutions.
“We hoped that the deputies would listen to the tenth part of their electorate, today’s number of infected, at least before the elections.” – says Dmytro Sherembei, HIV-infected person, Head of Advisory Council of Communities on the issues of access to treatment in Ukraine. – “But, unfortunately, only 32 deputies agreed to give up their privileges in favor of common Ukrainian people. Over the last 1.5 years I have lost 10 people whom I was acquainted with and whom the hepatitis ate alive, same is happening in Ukraine, where political indifference is eating the country even now, during the election race”.
UAH 1 billion is only one-third of the sum which is annually allotted for a sanatorium-and-spa treatment and health improvement for the officials. Recently the State has appropriated UAH 1 billion for installation of CCTV cameras at polling stations. UAH 1 billion is quite a specific sum of money needed to save lives of more than 100 thousand terminally-ill Ukrainians in 2013.
“Today we showed the real face of each deputy,” – Olena Kucheruk, ill with Hepatitis C, addressed the people present. – “We brought 450 medical masks. Each of them has a written name either of an “altruist” deputy, who is ready to give up a part of his deputy privileges, or of a “blase” deputy, who promises improvement only from TV screens and billboards”.
The activists have collected more than 6 thousand signatures of Ukrainians, ill with Hepatitis C, to hand them over to Viktor Yanukovych together with an open letter, since there was no state funding for Hepatitis C treatment over all the years of independence, leaving ill people to die.
We want to remind you that the public campaign called “Deputy-altruist” was launched in June. The biggest public institutions of Ukraine which take care of people ill with HIV, hepatitis and tuberculosis, made a personal appeal to each people’s deputy of Ukraine to give up a part of their deputy privileges and transfer these funds to ill people. There is an online tracking of the deputies’ reaction for the patients’ requests at the website. The deputies who give a written positive answer are immediately moved from the “blase” column to the “altruist” column. Massive billboards with photos of ill people wearing masks have hit all main squares of the capital.
At today’s press-conference ill people announced the name list of the “blase” deputies who have ignored their voters’ will.
Additional information:
Today in Ukraine: 9.5% of population is infected with HIV, tuberculosis and viral hepatitis. These are 4 million 184 thousand of Ukrainians.
234 832 Ukrainians live with HIV infection. Every day the HIV-infection strikes 58 Ukrainians.
449 201 Ukrainians are infected and have active tuberculosis. Every year 12 000 die due to this disease. Tuberculosis strikes 102 people in Ukraine every day.
3 500 000 Ukrainians are infected with different kinds of hepatitis.
Due to these epidemics Ukraine has already lost 369 780 thousand citizensover 20 years.
Taking into account the families and relatives of people who have these diseases, the number of the infected with epidemics amounts to approximately 12 million 150 thousand which is 26% of Ukrainian population.
Contact person: Boiko Inna, +38050 381 96 00, inna.b@ucab.org.ua
