Today patients, pharmacists, apothecary networks representatives and more than 200\u00a0NGO activists picketed by\u00a0the Cabinet of\u00a0Ministers of\u00a0Ukraine, requiring lustration in\u00a0the healthcare field. To\u00a0demonstrate their claims, they had brought a\u00a0special present for Prime Minster of\u00a0Ukraine, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a\u00a0huge luster (chandelier), on\u00a0which they hung the pictures of\u00a0previous government\u2019s officials. Protesters demanded to\u00a0terminate their employment immediately.<\/p>\n
\u00abIt\u00a0seems, that our officials do\u00a0not understand the meaning of\u00a0the word lustration,\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/em>says Dmytro Sherembei, the Chairman of\u00a0Charitable Foundation Patients of\u00a0Ukraine.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0With the help of\u00a0this luster we\u00a0tried to\u00a0explain in\u00a0simple and accessible way, whom we\u00a0demand to\u00a0dismiss from performing their duties because of\u00a0bribery and corruption in\u00a0healthcare system. Because of\u00a0their actions millions of\u00a0Ukrainians had suffered, and thousands had died. It\u00a0had happened, namely, due to\u00a0their cuts into own pocket on\u00a0overprized state contracts, bribes that they had taken for compromising licensing on\u00a0import drugs, other corruption schemes,\u00bb<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 he\u00a0adds.<\/p>\n The lustration list, created by\u00a0the leading NGOs and representatives of\u00a0the field, included: Head of\u00a0the State Medicines Service, Olexiy Solovyov and this deputies; Deputy Minister of\u00a0Health, Alexander Tolstanov, President of\u00a0National Academy of\u00a0Medical Sciences, Andriy Serdyuk and his deputies.<\/p>\n \u00abThe State Medicines Service, only officially, collects 100 million dollars per year from pharma business. However, according to\u00a0unofficial statistics, it\u00a0takes bribes in\u00a0amount of\u00a02\u00a0billion UAH annually. All of\u00a0these grey expenses affect common Ukrainians, but end up\u00a0in\u00a0Mr. Solovyov\u2019s and his deputies\u2019 (Inna Demchenko and others) pockets.\u00bb\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/em>states Denys Shevchenko, representative of\u00a0PHARMUDKRAINE Association.\u00a0\u00abBecause of\u00a0pressure of\u00a0the corrupt state officials of\u00a0the State Medicines Service, Ukrainian market starves for cheap and quality drugs. Because of\u00a0their actions, our children and parents die, cancer patients are constrained to\u00a0search for pills on\u00a0the black market\u00a0\u2014 in\u00a0contrary they die. All of\u00a0this makes Solovyov and his partners only richer in\u00a0terms of\u00a0billions, the share of\u00a0which they had paid Yanukovych and Azarov,\u00bb<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 tells the representative of\u00a0the field.<\/p>\n The activists had come to\u00a0the Prime Minister of\u00a0Ukraine, Arseniy Yatsenyuk with a\u00a0demand to\u00a0fire out all officials in\u00a0their list, as\u00a0the State Medicines Service is\u00a0his direct subordinate, and his government appoints deputy ministers and controls the Academy of\u00a0Medical Sciences. \u00abAll of\u00a0these officials were appointed by\u00a0Azarov in\u00a0the time of\u00a0old system\u2019s rule,\u00a0\u2014 states Dmytro Sherembei. \u2014\u00a0These are the ones that had bribed and then brought the money to\u00a0joint treasury of\u00a0old government. It\u00a0is\u00a0a\u00a0high time for them to\u00a0be\u00a0in\u00a0jail, but not just to\u00a0sit in\u00a0their offices. We\u00a0are the ones, who everyday had faced their tyranny, we\u00a0will demand the new government and Arseniy Yatsenyuk to\u00a0fire them out personally. We\u00a0will also require the Prosecutor General\u2019s Office to\u00a0speed up\u00a0the work on\u00a0the cases that were started on\u00a0certain corrupt officials.\u00bb<\/p>\n After the action, the broken luster, which symbolized the idea that lustration must destroy all corrupt schemes, together with an\u00a0open letter and a\u00a0list of\u00a0corrupt medical officials was passed to\u00a0Prime Minister\u2019s reception. The NGO activists had also submitted files on\u00a0corrupt officials with the list of\u00a0offensive actions and corrupt schemes. For example, the President of\u00a0the State Academy of\u00a0Medical Sciences, Andrew Serduik, is\u00a0charged of\u00a0carrying out the number of\u00a0offenses that amount to\u00a0600\u00a0mln. UAH, including inefficient use of\u00a0public funds. In\u00a0addition, he\u00a0is\u00a0accused of\u00a0negligence while the L.\u00a0V.\u00a0Gromashevskiy Clinic relocation from their premises.<\/p>\n