Shrapnel in the limbs and pierced lungs – many soldiers at the front do not come out of battle without injuries. But it gets worse. As the independent news portal Agentsvo writes, wounded Russians are being sent back to the front before doctors give their approval.
Normally, the system in Russia works as follows: when wounded soldiers are released from the hospital after treatment, a medical committee checks whether they are fit for work or service again.
But now doctors, human rights activists and lawyers in Russia are sounding the alarm. “Since the outbreak of the war, the system has been completely ruined,” criticizes Valentina Melnikova, a member of the Soldiers’ Mothers Committee. “Doctors can no longer check whether someone is suitable for the service,” she says.
According to Melnikova, Russian soldiers with serious injuries are sent back to the combat zone by their commanders without the permission of the commission. There is an “unacceptable number of such cases”.
Back to the front with a crushed lung
For example, according to Melnikova, two soldiers who had been treated for serious lung injuries for two months were sent back to the front instead of the medical commission. Soldiers whose organs were injured by shells suffered the same fate.
Soldiers with stomach ulcers and men who have had a stroke or heart attack during the war also seem to have no time to recover. They have to return to Ukraine too often.
“This really shouldn’t happen”
Olga Demichewa, a member of the Human Rights Council, told state news agency Ria Novosti: “Soldiers with recommendations for rehabilitation and aftercare were immediately sent back to the front, making treatment completely free and people suffering serious health consequences.”
When injuries are not properly treated and body parts are not amputated, the disease spreads. The incidents would increase. “Something like that shouldn’t happen,” Demichewa said.
Many mobilized soldiers now complain that they are seen only as cannon fodder and are sometimes sent into battle without equipment or training.