He came to Moscow and has been sleeping in abandoned trains while he tries to obtain new papers. Without them, most TB hospitals will not even examine him, let alone treat him. The MSF clinic is the only place where he can get a referral. Moscow is awash with ex-convicts such as Mr Kats, who present a potentially lethal health hazard for the general population. Regular prisoner amnesties release infected ex-convicts into the community at an alarming rate.
Critics chide the government for complacency.
The Soviet Union prided itself on its success in eradicating diseases such as tuberculosis, known as the white pestilence. The post-Soviet breakdown in health care combined with Russia's economic collapse, however, have created a large new underclass of tramps, refugees and social outcasts who are highly susceptible to the disease. One doctor decided that he could change the barometric pressure in the lungs of TB patients by putting them down a disused mine shaft. Millions of people all over the world harbour the TB bacterium, but only a small percentage develop the illness - usually after the body's immune system has been impaired. That makes Russians, at risk from stress, poor nutrition, alcoholism and the rampant spread of immuno-deficiency diseases such as HIV, particularly vulnerable to infection.