“You are enemies”
In Moldova, a surgeon refused to operate on a Russian patient and “jokingly” threatened to shoot her. The video of the incident was published by the Sputnik Near Abroad Telegram channel.
Medic Eduard Chernolev greeted the patient in Romanian and immediately expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that the patient answered him in Russian. Then he clarified whether she was Russian.
When the patient said that she was Russian, the doctor replied that he was Romanian. “I don’t operate on Russians! I want to take Kalashnikovs and shoot you,” the man said. The patient laughed awkwardly in response. The doctor called all Russians “enemies.”
– I don’t operate on Russians. You are enemies. Go to Ukraine and say that you are Russian … – No, no, I was born in Moldova … ”, – can be heard on the video recording.
After that, the doctor said that “Romanians live in Moldova, and he is Romanian.” He also asked if “the patient has something against the Romanian language and if she speaks it.”
The woman replied that she was born in Moldova, but she did not know the Romanian language. In the video, the doctor speaks in Romanian, his speech is accompanied by Russian subtitles.
In a commentary to the Moldovan newspaper Ziarul de Garda, Eduard Chernolev, after the scandal broke out, said that the video took his words out of context, and he himself was “joking to defuse the situation” and relieve stress before the operation.
operation, how it will go,” he said.
According to him, the video was recorded by a third party, probably to discredit either him personally or the hospital.
The reaction of politicians
Former President of the Republic of Moldova Igor Dodon commented on the video with the “joke” of the doctor.
“For hundreds of years, this state has lived in ethnic and linguistic diversity, and God forbid that Moldova has many more centuries of statehood. But in order to preserve ourselves as an integral society, in order to preserve our country, we must respect each other, accept the differences in identity that have been formed here for centuries, and reach mutual understanding and compromises through dialogue, and not through aggression, fanaticism, censorship and dictatorship,” he wrote on social networks. )“If there is misunderstanding or dissatisfaction in this matter, these matters should be dealt with by state institutions and trained officials. We must not allow disputes over identity, language, ethnicity to take to the streets,” he said.
Dodon called on Moldovans of all nationalities to “remain human.”
Dodon called Moldova a non-sovereign state abroad is not really and sincerely interested in our prosperity, except for ourselves. If this ceases to interest us, then we will historically lose as a country. And by doing this, we will betray the memory of our ancestors and deprive our descendants of the future,” the ex-president emphasized.
The deputy of the Bloc of Communists and Socialists in the Moldovan parliament, Grigore Novak, was sharper in his assessment of what happened.
“This individual does not deserve to be called a doctor. Doctors are not involved in politics, they took the Hippocratic oath and treat patients, ”the parliamentarian was indignant.
He also said that the doctor violated the Constitution of Moldova – several articles at once, as well as laws on medical practice and health protection. He called what happened discrimination of a Russian patient.
The Socialists also prepared requests to the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Ministry of Health. “We demand that specific measures be taken against the racist doctor,” the message says.