Ukraine protest
© n/a“I have AIDS, I was written-off by the Cabinet”, say these terminally ill people to PM Yatsenyuk
Terminally ill patients suffering from cancer, AIDS, hepatitis, and tuberculosis protested at the Ukrainian Government Building

They claim that the reduction of the country's medical budget dooms them to untimely death. Their posters say:
"I have cancer, I was written-off by the Cabinet"

"I have AIDS, I was written-off by the Cabinet"
Stumbling upon this video, I remembered that in 2010, the current Prime Minister of the Ukraine, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who is now implementing this austerity policy, ran for the presidency with these pledges:
"The quality of Soviet medicine and education exceeded standards of the most developed countries".

"If we are not able to revive our state medical system, people will be deprived of their future".

"That [Soviet] system had many disadvantages but still it was effective..."

"They [the West] have good educational systems. But it's not for everyone... Not many can afford to send their children to university..."

"The issue of Ukraine entering NATO is irrelevant".

"It's much more important for people to have good relations with Russia than with NATO. People want to improve these relations, including those in Western Ukraine. It's true - I've checked that".
This is not a joke - I kept Yatsenyuk's leaflets.


With these slogans in 2010 Yatsenyuk quickly became popular, catching up with the frontrunners - Victor Yanukovich and Yulia Timoshenko.

Then suddenly his election activity dropped sharply, and he was left far behind coming in fourth.

Why? Apparently, a Ukrainian pro-Russian oligarch sponsoring him had fallen out with Yatsenyuk.

Yatsenyuk began looking for new masters and found them in the West. So he changed his tune, and as PM implements western liberal reforms, including healthcare reform.

And now, according to the protest organizers, every day about 1,500 terminally ill Ukrainians die from lack of medications.