Mikhail Gninenko, an Honored Doctor of the Republic of Kazakhstan, suffered a severe injury on the very first day of his vacation in Phuket, and his wife found him lying at the foot of a concrete staircase, the website infohub.kz reports.
As a NUR.KZ correspondent reports, Kazakhstan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has commented on the situation. According to Astana TV channel, the former chief physician of the capital's disinfection station, who devoted more than half a century to the health of the country's residents, was injured on November 3, shortly after the couple arrived in Thailand. After checking into their hotel, 79-year-old Mikhail Gninenko and his wife went to lunch at a nearby cafe. After the meal, the man stepped outside just a couple of seconds before his wife.
"When I followed, I saw a crowd of people near a concrete staircase and found my husband lying at the bottom. There are six concrete steps there and a concrete floor with no soft covering," said the doctor's wife, Valentina Borisovna.
With a severe traumatic brain injury and intracranial hemorrhage, the Kazakh citizen was rushed to hospital. Doctors performed complex neurosurgery. The honored physician spent his 79th birthday, November 13, in a hospital ward, unconscious and on a ventilator.
According to the TV channel, Mikhail Gninenko is a native of Akmola region and the founder of the capital's disinfection service, which he headed for 20 years, and holds the honorary title "Honored Doctor of the Republic of Kazakhstan." According to the report, the insurance limit of $10,000 was fully spent on the first days of intensive care and the surgery. The clinic has now issued a new bill of more than 464,000 baht (about 6 million tenge).
A NUR.KZ correspondent sent a request to the press service of Kazakhstan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The response came from the ministry's official spokesperson, Zhanbolat Usenov.
"Kazakh diplomats are providing consular and legal assistance to the relatives of a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan who is being treated in a hospital on the island of Phuket. According to the attending physician, transporting the patient is currently inadvisable for medical reasons. Another meeting between the diplomats and the relatives and attending physician will be held in the near future, at which the possibility of moving the patient to Kazakhstan will be discussed again," Usenov said.