Inquiry launched after woman in Karelia hospitalised by sledge

The public prosecutor’s office in the northern Russian republic of Karelia is investigating whether a woman from the village of Gayzhevo had her right to medical care infringed after footage emerged of her being transported to a waiting ambulance on a sledge.

“According to media reports, the woman, who had suffered a stroke, lives in a part of town only accessible via a bridge, which is closed to traffic,” the prosecutor’s office said.

Telegram channel 7x7 reported that only emergency service vehicles can use the bridge to the village of Gayzhevo. That day, however, the ambulance crew was unable to reach the patient as the lock on the bridge had frozen.

The crew was forced to transport the woman using an alternative route across the village to the ambulance by sledge.

A group on the VK social media platform wrote that a local man by the name of Andrey Popkov had an agreement with the local authorities to help people access the bridge. “In a June meeting, the authorities had promised to pay Popkov, but he never got a penny,” it noted.