Donors and liquidators call upon Pyatkevich to return benefits

Blood donors and former Chernobyl cleanup workers are set to unite efforts in recovering state benefits.

On Thursday, Alyaksandr Valchanin, leader of a group of former Chernobyl cleanup workers that has recently obtained a legal status in Ukraine after being denied registration in Belarus, met with Ihar Kavalenka, a holder of the title of Honored Donor of Belarus resident in Mahilyow who wants to set up an association of blood donors, to discuss the matter.

They decided to ask Natallya Pyatkevich, deputy head of the Presidential Administration, to meet with them to mull state assistance to the two categories of the population.

They also intend to appeal to other civil society groups for support.

This past December, the government deprived regular blood and plasma donors of their 50-percent prosthetic dentistry discount, 50-percent discount on purchases of medicines, and 40-percent addition to the pension. It stripped former Chernobyl cleanup workers of free treatment at health resorts, free dentistry service and two extra weeks of paid leave, as well as increased the state retirement age to 55 years for men and to 50 for women.

According to Mr. Valchanin, there are currently 126,200 people in Belarus who took part in cleanup work around Chernobyl after the nuclear accident, including 11,200 disabled. The number of active donors in the Mahilyow region reportedly totals 9,000. A total of two million people in Belarus donated blood at least once.