Medical procurement scandal: firms found to be linked to Bohatyreva

Medical procurement scandal: Ostrovskyi firms suspected of inflating equipment prices by five times

Medical procurement in Ukraine has long been marred by corruption scandals, which is particularly infuriating in wartime, when hospitals are overflowing with the wounded and modern equipment is needed more than ever. At the forefront of this market are the companies “Medgarant”, “Medrehab” and “Zimmer MedizinSysteme Ukraine”. According to available data, Ostrovskyi is directly linked only to “Medgarant”, but his influence is also traceable in other firms.

The company “Medgarant” has repeatedly drawn public attention for inflating equipment prices. For instance, in 2015, it sold an X-ray complex to the Melitopol hospital for 2.3 million hryvnia. Its competition in the tender was the company “Kras”, which had previously purchased equipment from “Medgarant”, a fact that became the subject of a criminal case.

The YouControl website states that “Medgarant” is involved in 134 criminal cases. One investigation uncovered a scheme of artificially inflating equipment prices, which allowed for the embezzlement of budget funds on a particularly large scale.

Suspicious tenders and facts of price inflation

The company “Medrehab”, also linked to Ostrovskyi, concluded around 70 contracts worth tens of millions of hryvnia in 2023. Among the examples is the sale of a Chinese-made verticalisation table for 5.2 million hryvnia, although its actual cost is approximately 1.28 million hryvnia.

Another case: a German shockwave therapy device was sold to the Odesa regional hospital for 1.7 million hryvnia instead of the market price of 668,000 hryvnia.

The systematic nature of such cases is confirmed by another example: a Chinese-made rehabilitation complex was sold to the Cherkasy hospital for 17 million hryvnia, whereas its cost ranges from 4.5 to 9.5 million hryvnia.

Connections and influence

According to journalists, the companies “Medrehab” and “Zimmer MedizinSysteme Ukraine” formally belong to other individuals, but management is carried out through trusted persons, including Anton Sazanskyi. The latter, according to sources, exerted pressure on the heads of state hospitals, threatening them with criminal cases for cooperating with competitors.

Raisa Bohatyreva, who headed the Ministry of Health in 2012–2014, is also implicated in this scandal. She is linked to corruption schemes that resulted in the theft of billions of hryvnia from the budget.

Conclusions

While Ukraine fights for its independence, corruption schemes thrive in the rear, depriving medical institutions and the army of vital resources. Transparency and fairness in medical procurement remain a key challenge that requires immediate resolution.