'Allow doctor to see my dad': Navalny's daughter urges for medical care for Kremlin critic

Daria Navalnaya, the daughter of jailed Kremlin Critic Alexei Navalny, on April 18, demanded Russian authorities to allow a doctor to treat her father in the Peskov Prison. In a brief Twitter statement, the 20-year-old urged prison officials to “allow a doctor” to see her 44-year-old father. Daria, the elder of the two daughters of a Russian opposition leader is currently in California to pursue her education at Stanford University.

Navalny, since March 31, has been on hunger strike to demand proper medical treatment for back pain and numbness in his legs and hands. However, on April 17, his doctors warned that the Putin critic was at risk of cardiac arrest and could die “any minute”. Elaborating on the same, his personal doctor Anastasia Vasilyeva, along with three others- cardiologist Yaroslav Ashikhmin, have argued that the potassium level in Navalny’s blood was substantially above the average and could kill him. 

“Our patient can die any minute,” Ashikhmin said in a Facebook post, pointing to the opposition politician’s high potassium levels and saying Navalny should be moved to intensive care. “Fatal arrhythmia can develop any minute,” he added. As per experts, having blood potassium higher than 6.0 mmol (millimole) per litre usually requires immediate treatment. But, Navalny had it at 7.1 which meant it could d impair both his renal and cardiac functions. This means both impaired renal function and that serious heart rhythm problems can happen any minute,” said a statement on Vasilyeva’s Twitter account.

Global Support

As the news of Navalny’s deteriorating health conditions spread, global leaders including US President Joe Biden, Foreign ministers of Germany and France as well as popular Hollywood artist including actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Jude Law have raised demands to provide proper medical treatment to the country’s most popular prisoner.  On Saturday, responding to reporters’ questions about Navalny’s plight, Biden responded: “It’s totally, totally unfair, totally inappropriate.” Prison authorities say they have offered Navalny proper medical care, but that he has refused the treatment in favour of being treated by a doctor of his choice from outside the facility, a request that authorities have declined.

Image Credits: AP/Dasha_navalnaya/Twitter