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Timoshenko insists German medics evaluate hospital chosen for her treatment.

Timoshenko mistrusts Ukrainian medics and rejected their help. She insists that she be examined by independent medics

KIEV, April 4 (Itar-Tass) —— Former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko insists that German medics evaluate the Kharkov hospital proposed for her treatment.

Her lawyer and MP Sergei Vlasenko said on Wednesday, April 4, that Timoshenko needs to undergo medical treatment in a specialised clinic. However the Ukrainian railway hospital offered to her does not specialise in the treatment of spinal column conditions.

“We have asked German physicians to come over here and find out whether this clinic can provide the treatment they prescribed. If so, Yulia Vladimirovna will be ready to start it. But she insists on treatment by independent physicians,” Vlasenko said.

Timoshenko has been demanding for a month that she be examined by a physician she can trust – Ukrainian spinal column specialist Nikolai Polishchuk. “But we are told that this is not advisable,” the lawyer said.

Timoshenko was offered a course of treatment at the central clinical hospital in Kharkov. “This is the best health facility we have. Yulia Vladimirovna agreed and we can begin at any time,” First Deputy Health Minister Raisa Moiseyenko said earlier.

She said that Timoshenko has taken time for consultations. “I hope that the decision will be made after the consultations,” Moiseyenko said.

She confirmed that that the proposed hospital has a department specialising in spinal column problems, equipment and specialists.

“German specialists can be engaged for the treatment of Yulia Timoshenko, if they wish so,” Nikolai Korzh, Director of the Institute of Spinal Column Pathology, said.

Timoshenko’s lawyer Sergei Vlasenko confirmed that his defendant’s treatment at the hospital should be discussed with German medics.

“In order to understand to what degree this hospital meets their recommendations, they need to be invited there to come and say whether the operation they have advised can be performed there or not,” he said.

Timoshenko fell ill on August 18, 2011, two weeks after her arrest. Her lawyers say that she “has been in bed for about four months”.

Medics believe that Timoshenko has discal hernia. She has been complaining about pains in the back. Her lawyers claim that her condition was worsening despite medical treatment.

Timoshenko mistrusts Ukrainian medics and rejected their help. She insists that she be examined by independent medics.

On October 11, 2011, Timoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison for having acted in excess of her powers which had resulted in damage to national interests.