The head of a Siberian hospital repurposed for coronavirus patients is in critical condition after she fell from the hospital building following a conference call with health officials, local media reported Saturday.
Yelena Nepomnyashchaya, 47, fell from a fifth-floor window of the Krasnoyarsk Regional Hospital for War Veterans after talks with the head of the Krasnoyarsk region’s health department, according to the TVK broadcaster.
Nepomnyashchaya was allegedly opposed to repurposing another of the hospital’s buildings to house 80 Covid-19 patients because of its shortage of protective gear and lack of proper training among staff, TVK cited an unnamed source as saying.
“Perhaps these were the circumstances that prompted the woman to commit a desperate act,” the source was quoted as saying.
The Krasnoyarsk region more than 4,000 kilometers east of Moscow is among Russia’s 20 most-affected territories, with 527 coronavirus cases and five deaths registered as of Monday.
An unnamed law enforcement source told the investigative Novaya Gazeta newspaper that an inquiry was still ongoing, but preliminary findings showed no signs that a crime was committed.
The incident with Nepomnyashchaya follows a spate of mysterious deaths by falling out of windows among Russian journalists in recent years.
