The Children’s Ombudsman in St. Petersburg found out that a three-year-old orphan boy was tied with tights to a chair and a bed in one of the city hospitals due to a lack of staff. This was reported by the press service of the office of the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in St. Petersburg, Anna Mityanina.
Earlier, a video was published on the Internet with a child tied with tights to a high chair. It was posted by a local resident who was being treated in the same department with her child. After that, the specialists of the commissioner’s office and representatives of the health committee went to the children’s hospital, and the child was allocated a round-the-clock nanny from among the employees of the orphanage.
According to the current regulations, the hospital staff provides for 1.5 teacher rates for 40 children, so they are mainly looked after by a nurse, whose duties include not only fulfilling doctor’s prescriptions, but also feeding, carrying out hygiene procedures and more. “Under the current conditions, it is not possible to guarantee the safety of young patients from getting injured. This was the reason for the temporary fixation of the child to the chair and crib, ” explained the press service of Mityanina.
She also said that the boy is a pupil of one of the orphanages in St. Petersburg, he has two sisters, and their parents were deprived of their rights. For medical reasons, the child needs to be treated in a hospital until the end of the year.
According to Mityanina, in order to provide individual support for children left without parental care or legal representatives, it is necessary to develop a procedure for interaction of medical institutions with non-profit and public organizations and with district centers for social assistance to families and children.
The Investigative Committee of St. Petersburg has opened a criminal case on illegal deprivation of liberty.
Earlier, a case was initiated in the city after the death of a baby due to a forgotten needle.