The Azerbaijani “environmental activist” is lying: Critically ill patients from Nagorno Karabakh continue to be deprived of proper medical care

On December 13, the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh reported that as a result of the blocking of the road connecting Armenia with Nagorno Karabakh, “the transfer of residents of Nagorno Karabakh with serious health issues to Yerevan remains impossible.”

“The Ministry of Health of the Republic of Artsakh [Nagorno Karabakh-Ed.] is making all possible efforts to provide them with professional assistance, keeping in touch with specialists from Yerevan as well. There is currently no shortage of medicines and medical supplies for first aid. However, it is disturbing that the supply of medicines has become impossible,” the press release reads.

On December 13, literally minutes after the publication of the above-mentioned press release by the Ministry, the Azerbaijani Trend news agency published an article with the caption “Azerbaijani protesters are humane towards the Armenians of Khankendi (Stepanakert-Ed.), but refuse to stop the protest.”

According to the article, Dilyara Efendieva, one of the Azerbaijanis who have been blocking the Lachin corridor connecting Nagorno Karabakh to the Republic of Armenia since December 12 and claiming to be environmental activists, notes that they are ready to provide a corridor for the proper medical care of residents of Nagorno Karabakh.

“As one of the organizers of this protest, I want to confirm that we are ready to provide a corridor for an ambulance and medical assistance,” Efendieva said.

On the same day, at 15:46, a report was published on the Facebook page of the Ministry of Health of Nagorno Karabakh, in the description of which the ministry confirmed once again that “as a result of the closure of the interstate road, the transportation of critically ill patients from Nagorno Karabakh has become impossible.”

In the report, the Executive Director of the Republican Medical Center of Nagorno Karabakh Mher Musayelyan notes that two patients in critical condition in the hospital need to be transferred to Yerevan, and two others need to be transferred for urgent examination, but the issue of their transfer is uncertain due to the blocked corridor.

In the video published by the Ministry, it is also reported that the Stepanakert ambulance is not only unable to transport critically ill patients to Yerevan, but also the communication with a number of communities of Shushi region has been interrupted.

Thus, as a result of the blocking of the Lachin Corridor, the critically ill patients from Nagorno Karabakh continue to be deprived of the right  to freedom of movement in order to receive proper medical care, and the access of ambulances to some communities of Nagorno Karabakh remains impossible, despite the assertions of the Azerbaijani woman positioning herself as an environmental activist and the Azerbaijani mass media that the protesters are ready to provide a humanitarian corridor.

Nane Manasyan