MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd April, 2021) The Alliance of Doctors trade union (recognized as a foreign agent in Russia) said on Thursday that earlier this week jailed Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny was brought to a public hospital in the city of Vladimir.
Navalny, who has been complaining about severe back and leg pain, went on a hunger strike in late March after being denied a visit by a doctor of his own choice. The 44-year-old has been diagnosed with two spinal hernias but has refused the treatment offered by the prison authority. The latter assessed Navalny's health as stable and satisfactory and said that he had been receiving all necessary care. On Monday, Navalny was transferred to a prison hospital, where he was given intravenous glucose infusion.
"Today, we received information from Navalny's lawyers that, thanks to the enormous support of the world and public opinion, our patient was taken to the public hospital in Vladimir on April 20, where consultations were held," the statement posted on Twitter by Navalny's doctor and the head of the Alliance of Doctors, Anastasia Vasilieva, read.
The consultations were said to be held by a leading neurosurgeon, chief nephrologist and neurologist of the Vladimir region.
"All medical reports and test results were handed over to us today through lawyers and relatives," the statement read.
The doctors also called on Navalny to end the hunger strike.
On Wednesday, Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said that four independent doctors had visited Navalny, having reported no serious health concerns.
In January, Navalny returned to Moscow from Berlin after receiving medical treatment for his alleged poisoning. The blogger was arrested on arrival and referred to a court, which in early February rescinded his suspended sentence in the 2014 Yves Rocher fraud case over multiple probation breaches, and replaced it with a 3.5-year term behind bars. A Moscow city court reinstated the ruling but reduced the sentence to 2.5 years.
