Russian Doctor Reveals Hospital Hoax for Putin

A Russian cardiologist said Friday he fears dismissal and beating after telling Vladimir Putin that an impressive display at his hospital was faked for the prime minister's visit.

Putin visited a hospital in mid-November in the central town of Ivanovo where he saw new medical equipment and met doctors boasting about salaries of $1,000 a month. The visit was televised on national television.

Ivan Khrenov told Putin during a live call-in show Thursday that the sophisticated equipment was borrowed from other hospitals in Ivanovo and the doctors were instructed to show fake pay slips and pose as recovering patients.

Putin has ordered an investigation into a possible embezzlement of the $4,3 million the hospital has received. "What are you cheering at?" Putin asked the applauding audience. "The art of the (hospital) managers or doctor's bravery?"

If the embezzlement did happen, Khrenov told a Russian news agency Friday, he might face a beating or dismissal.

"I will not be surprised if somebody meets me in a dark alley or I'll be forced to resign 'voluntarily'," he told Interfax.

His words triggered a quick response from health officials and lawmakers in Ivanovo, Russia's former center of textile manufacturing that has faced dire economic problems after the Soviet collapse.

Regional governor Mikhail Men said in televised remarks that the equipment was still at the hospital and called the 24-year old cardiologist "sinister." Ivanovo lawmaker Sergei Pakhomov told the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily that Khrenov is "insane" and will be questioned.

Khrenov said Friday that he has already been called to a local prosecutor's office and health department for questioning.

He told Interfax that sometimes he has to work 36 hour-long shifts and that his salary never exceeds $480 a month.

He wrote a letter to Putin after his November visit to the hospital and that Putin's assistants asked him to repeat his claim in a phone call during the call-in show, Interfax quoted him as saying.

Putin hobnobbed with ordinary Russians in call-in marathons almost every year during his presidency, burnishing his image as an indispensable leader to whom every citizen could turn personally for support. Kremlin critics have long claimed that the callers who usually ask non-confrontational questions and lavish the prime minister with praise are screened and coached.

In recent months, a string of medical officials has been charged with embezzlement over procurement of overpriced medical equipment.

A 2009 survey on corruption perceptions by Transparency International ranked Russia a lowly 146th out of 180 countries - falling between Kenya and Sierra Leone.