Thousands of pregnant Russian women arrived in Ezeiza / Télam
“They are young and professionals and they are fleeing the war,” said Dr. Adelaida Soria, head of the obstetrics service at the San Martín hospital, in response to the cases of Russian immigrants who arrived in La Plata with advanced pregnancies and are beginning to emerge. in the midst of a phenomenon that occurs in our country. Faced with strong secrecy, this newspaper was able to learn that the first woman of that nationality to give birth was last December at the former Polyclinic on 1st and 69th Street. They assure that in the same month at the Gonnet Hospital there was another birth and it was He also knew a case in the private sphere. Currently, the professional also said that she treats a young Russian woman who will soon be a mother in a clinic.
He explained that the arrival of these Russian women to the hospitals and clinics of the City is through a “support network” from their country of origin, which has an interpreter already based in Argentina in advance, so that communication is ” fluid”. She said that they all arrived with their respective partners, legally married, and brought a prenatal check-up. However, how many and their identity are unknown.
They arrive through a “support network” from their country that has an interpreter in advance
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is one year old this week, although the tensions began earlier, and resulted in strong emigration in the country ruled by Vladimir Putin. As Soria heard from the foreign patients, they are young people who, fearing for their lives and that of their families, go into exile in search of a better future. “The testimonies of the women who came to care for their pregnancies in our city speak of this situation. Their husbands are boys of wartime age who could be conscripted into the Russian army. They are young professionals who do not have financial problems and often work remotely. While the young Argentines who leave the country escape the lack of job opportunities, the insecurity, the Russian citizens who do not live our reality, look for a country without war that gives them the possibility of solving their regulatory papers, having their children and get a passport that doesn’t close the doors on them”, details the doctor.
THE CASES IN THE CITY
The first patients arrived last December at the public hospitals of Gonnet and San Martín, with similar characteristics: advanced pregnancies and very involved in childbirth. “The patient who entered the Polyclinic was a very prepared, educated, professional person with demands regarding how she wanted the birth of her child to be,” said the doctor, adding: “A second patient arrived at a private hospital but was referred to the public sphere because she was also very advanced in pregnancy. As far as I could tell, these women had no problem taking care of themselves in the private sphere; on the contrary, I believe that the difficulty is because the obstetricians refuse to attend to pregnancies of more than 30 weeks that do not continue from the beginning of the gestation”.
Currently, she says, she is treating a Russian citizen who is in her 30th week of pregnancy in a private clinic. The visitor is a doctor and her husband is a systems engineer. This couple has a previous child and her entry to Argentina was fleeing the war: her husband was going to be recruited to go to the battlefront. Soria details that “they are a very educated couple. They maintain that Argentina is a kind country to carry out the passport procedures they need to enter Europe and that they have no intention of settling here. They are looking for a country that can be useful for their immediate purposes: the birth of their baby and solving their paperwork. From this personal experience I do not think it is an “illegal business”. But we don’t know if there are. Anyway, one would not have to have suspicious behavior beforehand ”.
“Their husbands are boys of age to go to the front in the war and could be conscripted into the army. They are young professionals without economic problems”
Adelaide Soria
Physician, head of the Obstetrics service at Hospital San Martín
This reality of young Russian women who come to have their babies in Argentina occurs mainly in the federal capital: “In La Plata these few cases that I mentioned are known, while in the Buenos Aires suburbs I consulted colleagues who work in different locations and did not receive any patient. The vast majority of this happens in the City of Buenos Aires,” said the doctor.
Regarding women between the ages of 25 and 35 who entered the country a few days ago and were detained at the airport and remained stranded with very advanced pregnancies, Dr. Soria opined: “Having pregnant women lying on the floor for two days is outrageous, an outrage, a shame. Here we have immigrants all the time and there are no such deals. People who come to be educated, to have their children, to receive care in the health system and nothing happens; 10 girls of Russian nationality entered all together and it turned out to be a scandal and suspicious”.
