DUSHANBE, November 16, 2011, Asia-plus — Before leaving for Russia for seasonal work, Tajik nationals undergo medical examination, Abdukholiq Nazarov, the deputy director of Tajikistan’s Sanitary and epidemiological Station, said, commenting on allegations of Russian chef sanitary inspector Gennady Onishchenko, who suggested that a temporary ban on the use of labor migrants from Tajikistan must be imposed for medical reasons.
Nazarov says persons diagnosed with tuberculosis or HIV practically do not have chances to get Russia. “But it cannot be ruled out that they may contract these diseases in Russia,” he noted.
We will recall that Russia”s chief sanitary inspector Gennady Onishchenko said on November 14 that many labor migrants from Tajikistan have recently been diagnosed with HIV and tuberculosis. He did not explain the circumstances under which the Tajiks were tested for the two conditions. He said that “a possible solution in this case is a full ban on the use of labor migrants from this country until at least minimal healthcare is created there.” He said that last year 188 Tajiks were deported from Russia for health reasons.
Meanwhile Russian newspaper,
Moskovsky Komsoletz
(MK), notes that according to the statistical data from the World Health Organization (WHO), Kazakhs, Kyrgyzs and Moldavians are diagnosed with tuberculosis more often that Tajiks. As far as the HIV infection is concerned, the rate of spread of HIV in Tajikistan is 14 (!) times lower than in Russia,
MK
reports.
“Whichever way you look at it, it is unfounded to describe Tajiks as a separate “tuberculosis threat.” “The TB rate among guests from the sunny country is really high, but the story about the HIV threat is too thin. In Russia, 1.4 percent of the adult population is infected with HIV, while in Tajikistan only 0.1 percent. Thus, migrants do not bring HIV to Russia; on contrary, they take it to Tajikistan from us,”
MK
reports.
