I should mention in terms of Rav Nahman, that he was highly suspicious of doctors. [See Conversations of Rav Nahman, paragraph 50] And there is plenty of reason for that. However I also want to mention that in Uman there were great doctors. [Not trained during the time of the USSR, but later under Capitalism.] They were amazing at diagnosis and treatment. During my last period there, I had broken my foot by being chased by dogs outside of Sofia Park. I had not known how serious the injury was and collapsed on the street. Passersby called an ambulance, and I was brought to the local hospital. [Immediately given tests to see in anything else was wrong and then a bed, and never a word was said about payment.] The doctor, Sergei Alexivitch, and the whole group of doctors and nurses did an amazing job. The woman in charge of anesthesia was supper careful about not over doing it, but gave only local anesthesia-(instead of general which she realized could have been dangerous). A nurse, Irina, held my hand to give me encouragement the whole time of the operation. [He is a young doctor who took his training after the USSR in the Institute at Dnieper. I would not have agreed to an operation if the doctor had been the same one that had been there during the time of the USSR because even among the general people that doctors had a reputation as terrible. But not all that were trained during the period of the USSR were like that. I had experiences with older doctors also there that were highly competent.]
The degree of care, concern and quality of care was astounding.
[That was just one example, but there is more to say because I was hanging around in that area because of my learning partner in Gemara, David Bronson. I should mention here also that the level of learning that received from David was not less than Rav Shmuel Berenbaum at the Mir in NY, or Rav Naftali Yegger in Shar Yashuv.\
As far as the vaccine is concerned see:
Sonia Azevedo, a mum-of-two had no prior health conditions and hadn’t had any adverse effects after getting the Pfizer jab.
A 41-year-old health worker in Portugal suffered a “sudden death” just two days after receiving the Pfizer vaccine. According to the EuroWeeklynews, Sonia Azevedo, a mum-of-two had no prior health conditions and hadn’t had any adverse effects after getting the Pfizer jab. Sonia worked at the Institute of Oncology in Porto before she collapsed on New Year’s Day. An autopsy is expected to be completed in the coming days to establish the cause of death.
I should mention that near Uman is a hospital called the regional hospital that I went to also. That was after my foot injury I had been in bed and so my intestines were not moving as if I had been walking around. So I had abdominal pain and went to that regional hospital. The medicine they recommended for me worked within a about two minutes after taking it. And that was my general experience with doctors in Uman. They knew exactly what to recommend for what ever my problem was. They were extremely\ competent\.
