Residents of the Ukhta village of Shudayag launched a petition against the cutting of a pine forest near the sanatorium boarding school No. 4 and hospital No. 1 for a new helipad for the needs of sanitary aviation, they wrote about it on May 20 in the community of the initiative group in the social network VKontakte.
The petition against deforestation was created by activist Alexander Yarusov, on May 24 it was signed by more than 300 people. Activists drew attention to the shortcomings of the proposed location of the new site:
'Placing a helicopter pad near the hospital buildings will entail a deterioration of the ecological situation in the hospital: rumbling, dust, vibration, emissions from fuel combustion near the buildings of resuscitation, cardiology, departments for patients with acute cerebrovascular accident, children's surgery and other departments with seriously ill patients. All these factors will adversely affect the health of patients.'
Instead of building a new one, the residents of Shudayag suggest repairing the old helicopter pad, which is two kilometers from the hospital. They support their position with the opinion of meteorologists and regulatory data. In support of their proposal on May 15, activists organized subbotnik and cleaned the old site of garbage.
On May 12, several local media published materials in support of the construction of a new helipad. The deputy of the State Council of Komi Ekaterina Rudenko accused the press of concealing the problem. The deputy said that the head of the republic Sergei Gaplikov threatened the government members with dismissal if they did not manage to master the federal money of the ‘Development of Sanitary Aviation’ project. After that, Rudenko assured, the Komi Ministry of Health decided to cut down a part of the forest near the Ukhta hospital for the facility.
The old helicopter pad was built in the 70s of the last century for the needs of the industrialists of the region.
Daniil Kuznetsov, «7x7»
