Since early March Turkmen nationals who arrived in Turkmenistan on inbound international flights have been obliged to undergo a two-week quarantine in Turkmenabat.
Men need to spend two weeks in a camping site whereas women and children are taken to hospitals, including the infectious diseases hospital.
Women in hospitals are divided into two groups – those who have increased temperature and other symptoms of coronavirus are accommodated in one unit of the hospital whereas those without high temperature are placed in another section.
However, the same doctors and nurses attend to both categories of patients and enter both units wearing unprotected medical gowns.When female patients criticized healthcare staff about that the doctor said that they had not been instructed to wear specially-designated medical scrubs or to assign staff to a specific unit.
Men complain about severe conditions in the quarantine facility. 14 two-tier beds are installed in hastily built tents. It is quite cold to stay there overnight and many have to sleep in their overcoats as the heaters do not have enough capacity to warm the tent.
A similar camping site, according to the sources of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan”, has been put up in the city of Nebit-Dag, Lebap velayat. The passengers from the ferry which arrived from Azerbaijan were forcibly placed there.
The official authorities claim that no confirmed cases of coronavirus have been recorded in Turkmenistan.