Kazakh hospital an affront to humanity, says Irish charity

AN Irish charity has launched an international appeal for help after stumbling across what it describes as a “hospital from hell.”

On its’ latest humanitarian mission to Kazakhstan, The Cork charity Greater Chernobyl Cause found The Red Cross desperately trying to care for the needs of elderly patients in conditions that are an ‘affront to humanity.’

The care home in the northern city of Semipalatinsk, which doubles as a hospice, is deprived of essential medical supplies, proper bedding and basic food.

The chronically sick are thrown together with social outcasts, the mentally disabled and others thought to be suffering from long-term exposure of radiation from the nearby former Soviet nuclear testing site.

Fiona Corcoran, chief executive of the Greater Chernobyl Cause, says that in her 14 years as a humanitarian worker she has never witnessed such deplorable conditions.

“These people in the winter of their life are having to spend their final days in extreme squalor. They are bereft of everything, forgotten by their families and the state. It’s difficult to believe that such conditions still exist in the 21st century.”

The Red Cross, who say their budget for this year is a paltry €52,000, are appealing to the Irish community for help and are asking for donations to be sent to The Greater Chernobyl Cause, Bessborough Centre, Blackrock, Cork.