"If people are ill, they can come to Ashgabat."

The Corinthian

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4307583.stm

Turkmen leader closes hospitals
By Monica Whitlock
BBC correspondent in Ashgabat

Reports from Turkmenistan say President Niyazov has ordered the closure of all the hospitals in the country except those in the capital, Ashgabat.

The order, announced by a government spokesman, is part of the president's radical health care policies.

Thousands of medical workers have already been sacked under the plan.

Civil rights activists have accused the president of sacrificing public services in favour of vast projects that glorify his regime.

President Niyazov apparently took the decision to close the hospitals at a meeting with local officials on Monday.

"Why do we need such hospitals?" he said. "If people are ill, they can come to Ashgabat."

For the Turkmens, it means the end of a nationwide health service already on its knees.

There are few able doctors and little medicine in rural Turkmen hospitals, and last year President Niyazov sacked 15,000 medical workers, replacing them with army conscripts. However the local hospital was the only place for sick people to go - especially those without the funds to travel to Ashgabat for treatment.

The foreign community will be horrified by the decision.

President Niyazov is well known for his idiosyncratic orders, but it is extraordinary for a head of state to take such a step.

At the same time, the president has also ordered the closure of rural libraries, saying they are pointless because village Turkmens do not read.

Criticism of the president is not allowed in Turkmenistan, but civil rights activists abroad say he has destroyed social services while spending millions of dollars of public money on grand projects, such as gold statues of the leader and a vast marble and gold mosque, one of the biggest in Asia.

This guy is like a cuddlier version of Kim Jong-il. No doubt we will see calls for regime change and democracy. After all, isn't that at the core of the great NeoCon doctrine of democracy?

Sparks

Isn't Turkmenistan an ally of the US at the moment? And unless I'm mixing up my dictators, this particular lad isn't a cuddlier version of Jong-il, he's a more insane version with a particular penchant for boiling his political dissenters in oil. But there's this oil pipeline running through the country, you see, so he's part of the Coalition of the Willing, instead of the Axis of Evil...

Frank Grimes

He's made himself President for Life, spends the country's money on statues of himself, he "writes" books which are made part of the school curriculum there and he's renamed the months of the year too.
But they've got one of the biggest supplies of natural gas in the world (one link) so whatever he gets up to is going to be ignored by the great spreaders of freedom.

Frank Grimes

Sparks wrote:

And unless I'm mixing up my dictators, this particular lad isn't a cuddlier version of Jong-il, he's a more insane version with a particular penchant for boiling his political dissenters in oil.

That's Uzbekistan's government you're thinking of, actually mentioned on the BBC news today too.
They let the Americans set up bases on their soil, so they're ok too though.

ionapaul

Wouldn't mind seeing this great revoling gold statue of himself - supposed to be pretty cool / sad. Did he name one of the days of the week after his mother or something?

Frank Grimes

ionapaul wrote:

Did he name one of the days of the week after his mother or something?

It was one of the months he renamed.

monument

Was her name 'Mary'? Because it just looks out of place with the other city names in the country... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Turkmenistan-map.png