A 90-year-old doctor in Russia’s central Nizhny Novgorod region may receive a seven-year jail term for accepting gifts from her patients, RIA Novosti reported.
The regional Investigative Committee said on Wednesday that the food, cash and other items Antonina Antonova accepted from patients were not "tokens of appreciation" but bribes for issuing the medical certificates required by many professions, including grocery store employees, hair stylists, and medical and hotel staff.
“Antonova accepted small sums of money and food as bribes,” regional investigators said on their web site.
Antonova, who has worked in the town of Pavlovo, Nizhny Novgorod region, for over 60 years, said the charges are part of a campaign by colleagues who want her to retire.
“It is a normal practice for grateful patients to give their doctor candy, food or other tokens of their appreciation,” Antonova, a survivor of the World War II Siege of Leningrad, said by telephone, adding that she was shocked by the “grotesqueness” of the charges.
The doctor was nabbed in September 2011, when a woman, who urgently needed a medical certificate, gave her 300 rubles ($10) without being properly diagnosed. Some minutes later, four policemen broke into Antonova’s office, demanding to explain the situation.
It turned out that a month before, the police had installed a surveillance camera in the doctor’s office. The recordings feature her patients who thank the doctor and give her sweets, chocolate and other food.
“What embarrassed me most of all is the fact that police had watched all those medical checks that I carry out with my patients. As a doctor, I sometimes have the patients disrobe, so it’s outrageous,” Antonova said.
Antonova, a recipient of numerous awards for her medical service, may face seven years in prison if found guilty.
The investigators have refused to comment on the case.
