An Uzbek blames the death of his 27-year-old wife on doctors' negligence and a lack of basic equipment and drugs at a hospital in eastern Uzbekistan where she died two weeks after giving birth.
Davron Ganiev says his wife, Mushtari Ganieva, was admitted to the Kokand city hospital's maternity ward on December 17 and suffered internal bleeding after giving birth.
Ganiev claims doctors "didn't pay attention" to his wife's condition despite his pleading with the medics to take measures to stop the bleeding.
"When I asked the doctors, they told me 'bleeding happens because of giving birth, it will stop soon,'" he said.
"But it didn't stop," Ganiev . "My wife fell into a coma on December 20. Then doctors came from [the provincial capital] Ferghana City and operated on my wife. But she died on January 2."
According to Ganiev, the maternity ward didn't have a functional artificial-respiration device and did not provide the basic drugs, a problem which further worsened her condition and contributed to her death.
Ganiev says he went and bought an artificial respirator in the neighboring town of Danghara but that by the time he acquired it he was too late to save his wife.
Corruption is rampant in the Uzbek healthcare system, which is partly due to very low wages. The average salary for a physician is 2 million soums per month in Uzbekistan, while nurses get around 1.2 million soums. To increase their income the medical staff sell drugs, even syringes provided by the state and which are designated for patients, under the counter. Thus, many public clinics remain largely under-equipped.
