Turkmenistan: cemeteries continue to grow due to deaths from COVID-19
In the city of Balkanabat, people continue to die in droves from COVID-19. Over the past 6 months, the number of graves in the city cemetery has increased by 419.
ACCA has already written about the situation in Balkanabat in its investigation of June 24 of this year. Then the correspondents of our editorial office managed to identify 317 deaths during 22 days. In Balkanabat, up to about 250 people die a year.
We compared the photo of the cemetery taken on April 16 with the satellite image taken on August 25 and found 287 new graves. And from August 25 to October 1, we counted 132 more graves. The image, received from the Sentinel-2, is very blurry, so the ACCA sources went to the cemetery to count the graves.
736 people have died in the city of Balkanabat from COVID-19 since the beginning of spring this year, and the death rate has begun to rise again.
In an interview with ACCA on condition of anonymity, the situation was commented on by an official who works closely with the Regional Health Department.
– Why is a mortality rate in the city still high?
– We still do not have masks, so the doctors sew masks themselves. There are also no medicines, costumes, but it is true that two pulmonary ventilation devices were brought in, which have not yet been uncovered; they are still in the package just to show to the commissions. Humanitarian aid came in the form of surgical gloves; we were given several pairs. Then, their cost was deducted from our salary. We have not received the salary increase promised by the President. Nevertheless, in summer compared to spring, mortality still decreased. However, doctors have nothing to do with this. The fact is that the authorities stopped persecuting and fining people for masks, plus the summer heat affected.
– Who exactly calculated the cost of the gloves? And where did the money go?
– In Turkmenistan, everyone knows very well that any received humanitarian aid is distributed by the Red Crescent Fund, which is headed by the President’s sister, Gulnabat Dovletova. She sells all humanitarian supplies, and the money goes into her pocket.
– Is the mortality rate growing now? And what is the situation in the country on the whole?
– As we expected, with the coming of autumn, mortality began to grow. There are a lot of children infected with the virus, and we expect an even greater influx of patients. In our region, about 2000 people have already died from COVID-19, more were only in Ashgabat and Mary. In general, across the country, I can only assume that the minimum number of deaths from COVID-19 is 7000 people.
It is worth recalling that the government of Turkmenistan still does not recognize the presence of the virus in the country, and the state media does not cover this situation in any way.
