03.03.2025 Investigations Kharkiv

Medicines will rise in price and foreign drugs will disappear from pharmacies: reforms of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine or how corruption schemes in medicine work during the war

Medicines will become more expensive, and some high-quality medicines will soon disappear from the shelves of Ukrainian pharmacies. Against this backdrop, there are news reports of the presence of Russian-made drugs in Ukrainian medical institutions. Doctors of the “former” MSEC, which was disbanded by the government due to numerous suspicions of corruption, continue to be exposed.

Those who took the Hippocratic oath are running million-dollar schemes in municipal hospitals, distributing tenders for the procurement of drugs or the repair of medical facilities, writing non-existent diagnoses for a fee, and forging conclusions for people liable for military service.

So is the healthcare reform being implemented successfully? And what issues should the Ministry of Health and Minister Lyashko pay attention to?

“Free medicines for the population”: does the program work?

Every year, the state allocates significant funds for the procurement of medicines for Ukrainian citizens that should be available free of charge. However, most of these medicines do not reach patients, and losses from manipulation of free medicines reach UAH 2.5 billion annually.

Medicines are procured at the expense of taxpayers, and the state guarantees their availability to everyone in need. However, in practice, information about the availability of free medicines is either not communicated to citizens or they are resold through pharmacy chains.

Corruption schemes also operate in Kharkiv City Hospital No. 14 named after Prof. Hirschman, whose patients claimed that they were extorted for surgeries and medicines that, according to the law, should be free. As it turned out, the hospital operated a controlled pharmacy registered to the individual entrepreneur Trinyak, which sold medicines provided by the state for free provision to citizens. In addition, this pharmacy also sold medicines received as humanitarian aid.

Based on the collected data, criminal proceedings were initiated. Based on our materials, the Kyiv District Prosecutor’s Office of Kharkiv registered a criminal case in the URPTI under Part 1 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine at 42024222010000037. The pre-trial investigation was entrusted to the Kharkiv Department of Internal Affairs No. 1 of the Main Department of the National Police in the region. But has the situation changed since then?

City Hospital #14 in Kharkiv: Where did the modern equipment go?

In 2022, the Kharkiv City Council decided to reorganize the City Clinical Hospital #14. Instead of developing the hospital and supporting it in difficult times, the local authorities decided to merge it with another institution, the City Clinical Multidisciplinary Hospital No. 17, thereby depriving the city of another medical facility that provides care to Kharkiv residents.

The story of the hospital’s reorganization is not limited to the closure of an important medical facility. On the eve of the invasion, the management of Hospital No. 14 purchased an ALLEGRETTO ophthalmic excimer laser system, which was purchased at inflated prices. As it turned out, it was because of the procurement schemes controlled by the chief physician Kovtun that this equipment was purchased when the actual need for it in the hospital was questionable.

Another interesting detail is that the lasers were transported six months before the full-scale invasion of Russia through the Sumy region. This issue is still not being investigated by the Specialized Defense Prosecutor’s Office. It is a big mystery how this became possible and why law enforcement agencies are not investigating this fact.

Farmak JSC and the sale of medicines to Russia

Farmak JSC one of the largest pharmaceutical manufacturers in Ukraine, claims its achievements as an example of a good business that pays taxes and develops in international markets.

There are rumors that some of Farmak’s medicines are entering the Russian market. Although the company officially denies any deliveries to the aggressor country, a detailed analysis of investigations and photos from pharmacies in Russia indicate the opposite.

The technologies of delivery of Ukrainian medicines to Russia are revealed through the use of the classic “Belarusian sandwich” scheme. First, Farmak’s products are sent to Europe, then transit through Belarus and end up in Russia. This is a well-known scheme used not only by pharmacists, but also by other Ukrainian companies to exchange goods with the aggressor, circumventing sanctions and international bans.

In Russia, the packaging of Farmak’s medicinal products is made to meet the requirements of Russian standards. Some products are even shipped to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, where the labels are translated into Russian.

In 2023, Farmak actively interacted with a number of business entities that actually operated only on paper, providing “front” agreements to cash out large amounts without paying taxes. These schemes help the company not only circumvent Ukrainian laws but also contribute to the Russian economy.

According to our materials, the Kyiv City State Bureau of Investigation registered the information in the URPTI under No. 62024100110000132, Part 4 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, and the Main Department of the National Police of Ukraine – under No. 12024000000000953, Part 1 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Nevertheless, Farmak continues to operate in the Ukrainian and Russian markets, as evidenced by numerous findings of the manufacturer’s products in pharmacies in Moscow, Rostov and other cities.

Reform of the Medical Expert Commission

In November 2024, the National Security and Defense Council announced 1,695 cases of corruption by the doctors of the Medical Expert Commission. Representatives of the commission unreasonably made decisions on disability for prosecutors, customs officers, tax officials, and other officials. The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office, which has a dozen prosecutors, is a case in point: Lymar, Kravchenko, and others, have been receiving disability pensions for a long time.

Separately, for remuneration starting at $5,000, MSEC doctors issued false certificates to men who were liable for military service and were perfectly fit.

During the war, the wealth of MSEC doctors grew to millions of dollars. One example is Dr. Krupa from Khmelnytskyi, whose mattresses were found by law enforcement officers to be filled with dollar bills. And although the government has now decided to reform the MSEC by introducing the involvement of specialized specialists. But will this help prevent corruption schemes, especially in times of mobilization?

In view of the above, more and more questions arise to the Ministry of Health and Minister Lyashko: when will there be real reforms and measures to help fight corruption in healthcare and medicine?

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