{"id":11664,"date":"2013-09-18T13:00:37","date_gmt":"2013-09-18T13:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/?p=11664"},"modified":"2024-04-17T18:10:46","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T18:10:46","slug":"ministry-of-healths-officials-make-money-on-patients-with-hepatitis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/news\/ministry-of-healths-officials-make-money-on-patients-with-hepatitis\/","title":{"rendered":"Ministry of Health\u2019s officials make money on patients with hepatitis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once the Cabinet of\u00a0Ministers for the first time in\u00a0the history of\u00a0Ukraine has decided to\u00a0finance the procurement of\u00a0drugs for the treatment of\u00a0hepatitis, Ministry of\u00a0Health officials immediately began manipulation with tenders, limiting the number of\u00a0participants. And that\u2019s after all manufacturers had sensationally declared their willingness on\u00a0more than half reduction of\u00a0the price for treatment from the deadly disease.<\/a><\/p>\n

Today patient and civil society organizations appealed to\u00a0the Minister of\u00a0Health of\u00a0Ukraine Raisa Bohatyryova<\/a> asking her to\u00a0prevent corruption in\u00a0the first procurement of\u00a0the first in\u00a0the history of\u00a0Ukraine drugs to\u00a0treat hepatitis by\u00a0corrupt scheme. The statement pointed out that according to\u00a0the decision of\u00a0the tender commission of\u00a0the Ministry, the representatives of\u00a0only one participant could take part in\u00a0the tender. Hence\u00a0\u2014 the Ministry will be\u00a0able to\u00a0buy only a\u00a0certain type of\u00a0interferon, which is\u00a0used for the hepatitis treatment, along with others.<\/p>\n

\u00abThe decision of\u00a0the forecast committee\u00a0\u2014 is\u00a0a\u00a0clear demonstration of\u00a0the preparation of\u00a0corrupt bidding,<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 says Vitaliy Shabunin<\/strong>, Chairman of\u00a0the Anti-Corruption Action Center<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 We\u00a0are now preparing a\u00a0letter to\u00a0all supervisory and law enforcement agencies about the flagrant abuse and will bring to\u00a0justice persons responsible for this procurement.\u00bb<\/em><\/p>\n

Let\u00a0us remind you, that on\u00a0September 4th Ukrainian government has allocated UAH33.2 million for the first time in\u00a0the history of\u00a0Ukraine for the procurement of\u00a0medicines for people with hepatitis. This was to\u00a0be\u00a0the first Ministerial procurement of\u00a0medicines for people with this diagnosis.<\/p>\n

\u00abWe understand that the officials could not skip this tidbit,<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 states Olga Stefanyshyna<\/strong>, Executive director of\u00a0the patients\u2019 organization UCAB<\/strong>. \u2014\u00a0That is\u00a0why\u00a0we, the representatives of\u00a0patient communities, weren\u2019t allowed to\u00a0attend the closed meeting of\u00a0the working group, which prepared documentation in\u00a0favour of\u00a0only one company\u00bb.<\/em><\/p>\n

We\u00a0would like to\u00a0remind that in\u00a0Ukraine there are only 2\u00a0manufacturers of\u00a0drugs for hepatitis C\u00a0\u2014 alpha-2a and the alpha-2b. Both drugs were proven effective and have all the necessary licenses and certificates. In\u00a0order to\u00a0make the tender fair and transparent, and to\u00a0purchase the drugs at\u00a0the lowest price, and, therefore, in\u00a0greater numbers, tender documents must not contain barriers to\u00a0the second manufacturer. The commission of\u00a0Ministry of\u00a0Health has registered it\u00a0in\u00a0such a\u00a0way that the second drug is\u00a0not ranked in\u00a0the list of\u00a0drugs that MOH will procure for people with a\u00a0diagnosis of\u00a0\u00abhepatitis\u00bb, despite the fact that both companies expressed willingness to\u00a0reduce prices and availability to\u00a0participate in\u00a0the tender.<\/p>\n

\u2018This is\u00a0the standard corruption scheme in\u00a0the public procurement of\u00a0medicines,<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 said Vitaly Shabunin<\/strong> from Anti-Corruption Action Center<\/strong>, who has faced such corruption before. \u2014\u00a0Indeed, in\u00a0this case, the manufacturer or\u00a0supplier whose products respond to\u00a0the list of\u00a0Ministry of\u00a0Health requirements, may offer any price, thus entering the tender with inflated prices, rewarding officials with the margin. In\u00a0such a\u00a0tender everyone wins except of\u00a0the patients who urgently need this treatment,<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 adds Mr.Shabunin.<\/strong><\/p>\n

People\u2019s deputies also began to\u00a0raise alarm. They approached the Minister of\u00a0Health Mrs. Raisa Bohatyryova with a\u00a0joint request to\u00a0intervene in\u00a0the process and to\u00a0protect patients from being robbed. Otherwise, the Minister will be\u00a0responsible not only for the organization of\u00a0this corruption scheme in\u00a0public procurement, but also for the failure of\u00a0the first in\u00a0the history of\u00a0Ukraine procurement of\u00a0the state funded drugs for adults suffering from Hepatitis C. It\u00a0should be\u00a0noted that a\u00a0few days ago the media reported<\/a>, that both manufacturers of\u00a0drugs for hepatitis are willing to\u00a0lower their prices for the Ministry of\u00a0Health procurement. According to\u00a0NGOs, openness and a\u00a0willingness to\u00a0negotiate should be\u00a0the basis for an\u00a0open and transparent tender process.
\nInstead, officials from the Ministry of\u00a0Health have done everything to\u00a0avoid competitive procurement. Now patients and civil activists hope that the Minister of\u00a0Health Mrs. Bohatyreva will not tolerate corruption of\u00a0the tender and will persuade her subordinates to\u00a0create normal market conditions for the tender and hold it\u00a0open, procuring the largest number of\u00a0products at\u00a0a\u00a0low price.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once the Cabinet of\u00a0Ministers for the first time in\u00a0the history of\u00a0Ukraine has decided to\u00a0finance the procurement of\u00a0drugs for the treatment of\u00a0hepatitis, Ministry of\u00a0Health officials immediately began manipulation with tenders, limiting the number of\u00a0participants. And that\u2019s after all manufacturers had sensationally declared their willingness on\u00a0more than half reduction of\u00a0the price for treatment from the deadly disease. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11664"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11666,"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11664\/revisions\/11666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}