Azeri War-Wounded Complain of Shabby Treatment

Azerbaijanis disabled while serving in the military accuse the authorities of withholding the free medical treatment to which they are entitled.

Veterans' rights activists say the former soldiers, many of whom were injured in the war over Nagorny Karabakh, are forced to pay for treatment that should be free, and are unable to get into rehabilitation units unless they pay bribes.

The health ministry insists it provides funds for treating army veterans. It admits some doctors and nurses are corrupt, but says things have improved since it launched a major anti-corruption drive in March, sacking or disciplining dozens of medical staff members.

But veterans' organisations say that has not made a difference to their members, who are still being forced to pay for medicines and treatment.

They point to the case of 22-year-old Ramin Ibadov, who killed himself in desperation on June 24 after being denied free medical care.

Ibadov was serving in the Azerbaijani military in 2008 when he stepped on a landmine near Armenian-controlled Nagorny-Karabakh, losing a leg and suffering a brain injury.

He had campaigned to raise awareness of his plight, telling the Yeni Musavat newspaper, "By law, a person in my condition should be classed as first-category disabled, but I was only given second-category status. I have nowhere to live with my family and young child, and nothing with which to feed them.

"I went into the army completely healthy, and came back an invalid unable to work. The small pension is not enough for anything. I don't even get free treatment."

Ibadov's suicide put the issue of disabled veterans' rights in the spotlight, but it was far from the first warning of its kind.

Last year, another disabled former soldier, Fizuli Huseynov, jumped from the second floor of a building, but survived. He said afterwards he had been driven to desperation by his inability to support his family on the state pension.

The same day Fizuli Aliyev, a veteran of the Karabakh conflict, tried to slash his veins in a major Baku hospital after he was denied free treatment.

When IWPR initially sought a comment from Anar Gadirli, a spokesman for the health ministry, he flatly denied that such ex-soldiers were being denied free treatment, and cast doubt on the mental health of those who made suicide attempts.

"The disabled get state-funded treatment in hospitals, and they also receive free medicine," he said. "Those disabled in war are sick people. In many cases, their nerves are not in order. Sometimes they have to wait a while for places in rehabilitation centres to become free. When you talk to them about it, they see this as indifference. But we pay great attention to every case."

People who work with disabled army veterans say it is simply not the case that care is freely accessible.

A spokesman for the Union of Karabakh Invalids said that while disabled ex-combatants used to receive free treatment, now they often found it impossible to get replacement prosthetic limbs.

Mammadhasan Hasanov lost a foot in a mine blast in 1993, during the Karabakh conflict. Now a lawyer, he runs a pressure group called Mine Victims.

Even though he falls into the first of the three categories that are used to define the seriousness of disabilities, he said he was unable to obtain complicated medical treatment free of charge. As a result, he had to ask friends for money whenever he needed to go to hospital.

"Sadly, this 'free treatment' exists only on paper. We receive only painkillers and syringes free of charge," he said. "For the rest, I have to ask friends and relatives to help pay for more complex treatments. I have to pay for expensive medicines out of my miserly pension."

Hasanov looked back to the Soviet period, when veterans of the Second World War received "free treatment, a flat, a car, and a country cottage, and were sent on holiday every year – all without having to wait in line".

"When we ask for something, we get told to wait," he added.

Hasanov had nothing but scorn for the claim that disabled ex-solders were over-reacting or were mentally unwell.

"Of course [they have] nervous disorders – how do you remain calm if you've sacrificed your health for your country and you have to fight the arrogance of dishonest officials every step of the way?" he said. "Yes, the disabled do constantly repeat that there are no places in hospitals, but that's because officials are selling the places to patients who aren't war veterans. This provokes them to desperate actions, including suicide."

According to official figures, Azerbaijan has ten rehabilitation centres for disabled ex-servicemen, and officials say that they can be sent for treatment abroad if need be. This year's government budget set aside 23 million US dollars to build more rehabilitation centres and special accommodation.

Sarraf Oruj, head of the Fund for Disabled Internationalist Soldiers, which represents ex-combatants from the Karabakh war, said the scale of embezzlement of health-sector money was so great that the government set up a special commission to deal with it in 2009.

"But this didn't change things, as the commission is a mere formality. It has yet to uncover a single serious crime. Not one official has been punished, even though most disabled [veterans] complain that they don't get free, timely treatment on time," he said.

Oruj said an investigation conducted into rehab centres revealed cases where units were assigned government funds to carry out a total overhaul, but the actual work done was cosmetic. He said the funds notionally assigned to pay for medicines and prosthetic limbs did not translate into free treatment.

"Disabled [veterans] get into rehabilitation centres only if they pay bribes. Those who refuse to pay are told to wait because the places in these centres are supposedly all taken. And it's been two or three years since any of them has been treated abroad."

Oruj's description matches the experience of Aliyusif Kazimov, who is still troubled by bullet wounds he received in the Karabakh war.

"I haven't been able to get treatment in a hospital for more than a year now. They keep saying there aren't any places," he said. "Yet an acquaintance of mine… who didn't fight in Karabakh and was disabled in a car crash pays money and gets treated in the same hospital twice a year."

Kazimov said he spent a lot of time campaigning on behalf of his brother-in-law who received shrapnel wounds to his leg and now suffers from a bone disease.

"After a two-year correspondence, I eventually managed to secure treatment for my brother-in-law. He was disabled in the war, and he is in an even worse state than me. The treatment is supposed to be free, but we have to buy the medicines with our own money because the doctors keep saying they don't have this or that medicine. We've always had to pay the doctors, the nurses and the cleaners to get them to do their jobs and treat [us] properly."

IWPR went back to health ministry spokesman Gadirli and challenged him with testimony such as Kazimov's. In response, he confirmed that some doctors and other medical staff might be corrupt, but denied that such behaviour was encouraged or tolerated from above.

"In March this year, the health ministry set up a commission to fight corruption, and it conducted internal investigations, as a result of which 21 dishonest heads of major medical centres lost their jobs, and 54 were subject to tough penalties. We also created a hot line where citizens could inform us of problems they were facing," he said.

"Treatment for the war disabled is free of charge, and they should receive medicines gratis. If these rights are violated, they can phone in on the hot line. The ministry will definitely investigate every complaint and punish those found culpable. And if someone has facts proving that budget money earmarked for war veterans is being embezzled, then they should inform the police."

Representatives of veterans' organisations said they no longer trusted such assurances.

"This whole fight against corruption is just for show. They removed some corrupt officials and replaced them with others. We haven't been able to receive free medicine or treatment in over two years," Rey Karimoglu, spokesman for the Veterans of the Karabakh War group, said. "Nothing has changed since these healthcare purges."

On the health ministry's dedicated phone line, Karimoglu said, "This hot line is just for show, as well. I have personally phoned and complained, naming a specific hospital and specific officials, but that didn't achieve anything. We are still forced to pay for all medical services."