Relatives Barred From Uzbek Hospital

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Relatives Barred From Uzbek Hospital

Wednesday May 18, 2005 6:01 PM

By BURT HERMAN

Associated Press Writer

ANDIJAN, Uzbekistan (AP) - Pressing their faces against the barred gates of the regional emergency hospital, Uzbeks on Wednesday cried out the names of relatives injured in the worst outbreak of violence since this country gained independence in 1991. But they weren't allowed inside the heavily guarded facility.

The top medical official in the Andijan region, Valikhan Khakimov, said 106 people were being treated at the hospital for bullet wounds, including 72 civilians and 34 government troops. He said no children were among the wounded, and that six other people with injuries were sent to a military hospital.

Khakimov declined to give further details on the injured, or say how many wounded people there were overall in the city.

At Andijan's second-largest treatment facility, the City Hospital, chief doctor Dilshodbek Khakimov said only three injured in Friday's violence had been taken there, and two had been released. He said the rest of the injured had been taken to the regional hospital, the best equipped in the area.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5014734,00.html