The key facts

  • On November 11, children at the Kibray rehabilitation center were made to scrub shoe marks off corridor walls
  • The Health Ministry set up a working group, and the children's ombudsperson sent a representative to the site
  • Measures against staff have not yet been announced

What happened

At the Republican Children's Medical Rehabilitation Center in the Kibray district of Tashkent region, patients — children and adolescents — were made to wash the walls of a corridor. Video of the incident spread on social media on November 12 and sparked public discussion, after which the situation received an official response from the agencies.

How the incident is described by the Health Ministry

According to preliminary inspection data from the Health Ministry, the incident occurred on November 11. That day, the head of the household department of the unit (in the inspection materials she is listed as the housekeeping nurse M. A.) arrived at work at 07:20 and, while checking cleanliness, noticed shoe marks on the corridor walls. After that, the children presumed to have left the marks were assigned to clean up by decision of the head of household affairs.

Response from the agencies

The Ministry of Health set up a working group over the incident and said that measures would be taken against the employees who allowed such a situation in the established procedure. At the same time, as noted in press service statements, it has not been specified what exactly those measures will be. Children's ombudsperson Surayyo Rakhmonova took the situation under her control: her representative for Tashkent region traveled to the site to conduct an inspection into the violation of children's rights and legitimate interests.

Context

The rehabilitation center began operating in March 2026. The facility specializes in the rehabilitation of patients under the age of 18 with nervous system disorders, orthopedic conditions, respiratory illnesses, and gastrointestinal diseases. Under the center's internal rules, patients are washed every morning, their body temperature is measured, and other necessary medical procedures are carried out. The outcomes of the inspections and the decision on measures against staff remained unknown at the time of publication.