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Medical Checkups: For Health or Profit?
By Sevda Samedova
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| Driver Azer Mardanov says he gets his health card stamped without a health exam |
Under national rules all mass transit bus drivers must undergo a daily medical examination; however, it appears the rules are being ignored on a regular basis – potentially affecting the safety of the system’s two million passengers.
Mazahir Rustamov, the head of Assistance for the Resolution of Legal Problems of Bus Drivers, a public association, says that this medical check-up is only symbolic. “They distribute badges with a one month expiration date to all the drivers and every morning they are content with stamping those badges without arranging any medical check-up for drivers at medical facilities,” he said.
At the start and completion of each work day, drivers are supposed to have their blood pressure, temperature and blood-alcohol content checked. They are also supposed to undergo a twice daily drug test.
Rashida Mammadova, 38, spends two to three hours every day riding buses. “My job is at the city center and I live in Shuvalan. Believe me, every time I get off the bus I say, thank God,” she said.
Mammadova says the drivers act irresponsibly. “They forget it’s a bus and they think they’re driving their personal vehicle. Why do those people who’ve entrusted these buses to the drivers fail to see this? I am a nurse and I know that they have to undergo a medical examination every single day.”
The Cabinet of Ministers approved the rules for daily medical exams in August 2006. According to these rules, every mass transit driver must undergo the examination twice a day. The rules indicate that the medical check-up must be performed by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Transportation.
Division head of Baku State Traffic Police, Vagif Asadov notes that from Feb. 10 until Feb. 28 only one bus driver out of 869 drivers of public transportation was pulled over for drunk driving. “I don’t have the information whether the drivers who had no confirmation of medical check-up were fined throughout this period.”
However, those drivers who refuse to undergo daily medical examination face a stiff fine. “If a driver fails to present a document confirming his medical check-up twice a day, then he is deprived from driving for the whole year,” Asadov said.
Sabir Ahmadov, who works as a conductor at a final bus stop in 20th Field, says that all the bus drivers have a document confirming their medical examination. “We have no bus drivers who take the wheel under the influence of alcohol or drive while being sick,” Ahmadov said.
Mustafa Pashayev, the driver of bus #104, which Rashida Mammadova rides every day, confirms that he undergoes a medical examination every morning. “Every morning I have my badge sealed at the Bayil bus stop and then I start to work.”
Rashida Mammadova, in her turn, doesn’t believe this medical check-up is done appropriately. “When you see how they drive you start doubting if they are healthy at all. It doesn’t matter if every one of them has a document in his hand. This document is a sort of camouflage.”
According to Pasahyev, they undergo medical examination on a daily basis from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. at a traffic circle of Bayil settlement, which is considered their final bus stop.
However, based on two days of observation by this reporter at the Bayil settlement traffic circle starting at 8 a.m., no medical examinations were done. A person who introduced himself as a doctor said he was in charge of the medical check-up. He added that he felt content with stamping the documents of the bus drivers who approached him to confirm the fact they underwent a medical examination.
The person who was stamping the medical examination document refused to give his name and the organization he represented. He also failed to specify the reason why there is no medical examination conducted and the gist of his work and how it is possible to do a check-up without medical supplies. “At first, get permission from the management and present me a permission document, then I will answer your questions” he said. He refused to give the address of the management.
Aliyaga Rzayev, the driver of bus #97 said the following: “I’m not sick. I don’t need to be checked every day. I don’t drink.”
Reaching out his hand to give his badge to the doctor the bus driver of the bus # 120, who didn’t want to be named said, “Hey, stamp it. I need to go. My passengers are waiting in the bus.” Because his passengers were already waiting for him in the bus, he didn’t want to undergo a medical examination. “Besides, we pay 40 or 50 kopeks for this document to be stamped every day,” he said.
The spokesperson of the Ministry of Transportation, Namig Hasanov, said that the given ministry is not involved at all in the medical examination of bus drivers. “It would be better if you contact the Ministry of Health regarding this issue,” he said.
According to Anar Gadirli, the head of the press service of the Ministry of Health, the medical examination issue of bus drivers is done based on the contracts made between the transportation companies and individual doctors. “The managers of those companies are the ones responsible for these breaches.”
Samir Hasanli , the head of the press office of Bakı Passenger Service, an open joint stock company that manages the bus lines in Baku, maintains that there are many problems in the system. Hasanli says that the company is working to improve the service.
“Special facilities for medical examination of bus and taxi drivers are being arranged. Work is being done to supply daily medical examination centers with new medical equipment,” he said.
According to Hasanli, currently there are only two facilities for medical examination of bus drivers. These are located at the Bayil traffic circle and trolleybus stop #2. “It is envisaged that the remaining facilities will be arranged at the parking garages. However, this needs a lot of funding,” he said.
This reporter visited the stops where facilities were supposedly located. None were seen. As at the other location, a man at the bus stop simply stamped the papers of the drivers, and they paid the “examination” fee.
Mazahir Rustamov, the head of a group that assists bus drivers with legal problems, notes that all these services should be overseen by the Ministries of Health and Transportation. According to Rustamov, the rules approved by the Cabinet of Ministers are worthless. They simply give an excuse to charge drivers an extra fee instead of checking their health condition. “There are currently 8,000 bus drivers in Baku and if every bus driver pays 40 or 50 kopeks every day then this amounts to 36,000-40,000 manats,” he said.
Bus driver Mustafa Pashayev says that the most convenient course of action is simply to pay 40 or 50 kopeks to have the document stamped. “If we don’t have this document on us, we will be fined by the State Traffic Police and given three penalty points. When you receive those three penalty points three times in a row, you lose your driver’s license.”
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