The Last Straw For People

A Barysau dweller visited a state medical institution in Belarus.

Businessman from Barysau Viktar Harbachou wrote on Facebook how he visited the Minsk regional children’s hospital with his relative:

— The Barauliany hospital. A queue to the ophtalmologist. Two months of waiting. We made an appointment in advance. So we came. There’s a stream of people. Queues, queues everywhere, like to the Mausoleum in the old times. Waiting. Gloomy faces. Quarrels and arguments from time to time, attempts to figure out who came earlier and who stands behind whom. Leaking ahead of the queue. Like, someone will lead them in. Children. Many children. Parents and children. Nervous.

People communicate in the queues. They get acquainted and share their problems as long as they have the time. Someone drove 200 km, someone 100. Everyone is hoping for the better. There’s a number of those who came to accompany. Especially with the elderly people. Some took a day off at work. Some people discuss opening of the VIP hospital, comparing it with what they see at the moment.

They seem outraged. Discontent about the situation in the country in general. The people are talking more openly and bravely. They are tired of lies and beautiful pictures in the newspapers and on TV. I decided to ease the tension a bit. When yet another patient reserved a place in the queue, I decided to ask loudly, so that everyone would hear:

— Tell me, is there at least one “member of the Parliament” here?

The people got vivid and looked at me with curiosity.

— Maybe there is a “deputy” of a regional council in the queue? Or, any kind of a “deputy”?

And then it was the last straw for the people. They started talking loudly. There are no “deputies”, no directors of the enterprises here. Like, they don’t go to such places.

I started thinking. Right, but where do they go? They are people. We live in the same country. But we got divided by ranks and classes. Some sit at the bottom of the ladder, some near the feedbox.

The queue stirred up and continued looking for a “deputy” among them. What about me? I left to take a breath of fresh air. Let them talk. They made an appointment for my relative in April. Let’s wait and see. Maybe, there will be at least one “member of the Parliament” in the queue in April.