Kirovohrad activists take control of tuberculosis treatment for former convicts

Every month, Ukrainian prisons and colonies, having completed the correction of former convicts, release them into freedom with a clear conscience, but… not always with clear lungs. Hundreds of them need to continue tuberculosis treatment.

As of today, penitentiary system institutions, unfortunately, still continue to lead in terms of the rate of tuberculosis spread in the country.

The incidence rate of tuberculosis in places of detention is 14 times higher than the corresponding figure among the general population. Therefore, about 6,000 convicts receive anti-tuberculosis treatment in special colony-hospitals annually.

Upon receiving long-awaited freedom, almost half of them do not report to medical institutions and do not continue the treatment started in the colony. About 40% of former convicts in need of tuberculosis treatment remain without chemotherapy and medical supervision.

‘What kind of treatment can we talk about when, for example, a person has no passport, no registration, no prospect of receiving a disability group, and no relatives to support them financially? There is no talk of work at all – who needs a former prisoner, and one with tuberculosis at that… And one needs to buy clothes, wash with something, and treat other diseases besides tuberculosis. Therefore, many who have been released have little faith that anything can change in their lives and live in hopelessness based on the principle of “taking everything from life”. Because of this, anti-tuberculosis hospitals often turn into a breeding ground for drug addiction and alcoholism…’ notes Vladimir Bocharov-Tuz, a representative of the All-Ukrainian Charitable Organisation ‘All-Ukrainian Network of Organisations Working in the Penitentiary Sphere’.



According to him, these people are in dire need of support and attention. And not only so that they can return to society after release, but so that they continue treatment, because a person with untreated tuberculosis becomes dangerous to those around them due to the risk of infection.



With the financial support of the All-Ukrainian Charitable Organisation ‘All-Ukrainian Network of Organisations Working in the Penitentiary Sphere’, Kirovohrad activists decided to do everything possible to ensure that former convicts in the Kirovohrad region continue their treatment. Having analysed the needs and problems that these people face, the activists created a social support system under which the necessary conditions for continuous tuberculosis treatment are created for such patients.



Thanks to the permission of the chief physician of the Kirovohrad Regional Anti-Tuberculosis Dispensary, mutual aid groups and consultations for patients released from places of detention are held regularly at this hospital. Humanitarian aid needed by them is also provided.



In the opinion of representatives of the public organisations that created a coalition in the Kirovohrad region to ensure the socialisation of people released from places of detention, such an approach meets a real need and will facilitate the continuity of tuberculosis treatment for former convicts.