Grodno medics: treating refugees is our job

Two refugees are currently being treated in the Grodno University Clinic: one from Somalia, and one from Eritrea. Chief physician Sergei Lazarevich shared that information with reporters during a press tour for Russian and Belarusian media, BelTA reports.

“They were both moved here from the Svisloch District Hospital two days ago. One suffers from decompensated diabetes: he had no medicines with him, and his blood sugar spiked. The other one has a broken leg; no surgery was needed, a cast was enough,” Mr. Lazarevich explained.

Often, patients don’t have any papers on them, the doctor said. Some don’t speak English, French, or German, so communicating with them is difficult. Still, medics use online translators and gestures to explain what’s going on.

“Sometimes, it’s so hard to make them understand. One of them [the two who are treated in the clinic now] only has rudimentary reading skills in his own language,” he said.