The Ministry of Health: With the new government in power, nothing has changed. The same people are working under Vasily Lazoryshynets as under Oleh Musiy and Larisa Bogatyreva.
Just recently, LB.ua reported that nothing had changed at the Ministry of Health with the change of minister—under "Maidan Minister" Musiy, all processes were run by the same pharmaceutical industry representatives as under Raisa Bogatyreva and her predecessors. Only Oleksandr Yanukovych's overseer left his office at the ministry.
And now the new head of the Ministry of Health, Acting Minister Vasyl Lazoryshinets, has found himself mired in the same dangerous quagmire. The very first tenders held after his appointment showed that the rules of the game would not change: millions were handed out to the same companies, following the same opaque procedures.
Vasily Lazoryshinets
The First Coming of Lazorishinets
However, it's not exactly a surprise. Firstly, the "place is cursed." Secondly, Lazoryshenets served as First Deputy Minister from 2008 to 2010. He gained invaluable experience fighting swine flu through the procurement of Tamiflu. Despite the fact that all the documents were signed by a scapegoat—then-Deputy Minister Valery Bedny—the procurement of Tamiflu at inflated prices from the ill-fated company Ganza was also carried out by Lazoryshenets, Deputy Minister Zinoviy Mytnyk, and Chief Sanitary Doctor Oleksandr Belovol (statements by all of these individuals about swine flu and their "excellent procurement" can be easily found through an internet search).
Incidentally, current President Petro Poroshenko should remember this story very well: back in 2009, he brought 200 doses of Tamiflu to Ukraine at a price three times lower than the price at which the Ministry of Health purchased the drug from Ganza.
During those years, Vasyl Lazoryshenets also had full control over cardiology procurement (along with SBU officer Dmytro Demyanenko, who still serves at the Ministry of Health as an unofficial adviser to the minister, as LB.ua also reported). Furthermore, Vasyl Lazoryshenets was involved in two infamous 2009 loans: an Austrian loan of €100 million for the purchase of ambulances and an American loan of $100 million for medical equipment (although the documents were signed by Zinoviy Mytnyk, not Lazoryshenets). Yulia Tymoshenko was implicated in the criminal case for abuse of office, but the prosecutor's office somehow overlooked the leadership of the Ministry of Health.
They weren't affected by the lustration, which, for unknown reasons, targeted only officials from the Yanukovych presidency. So now the old, new healthcare professionals have access to state budget allocations.
A lucrative expert center
Furthermore, the acting minister took on personnel issues. Like other department leaders, Lazoryshynets was almost immediately interested in the position of head of the Ministry of Health's State Expert Center, which oversees drug registration and clinical trials in Ukraine (note the glitter—it's the glitter of a gold mine).
The acting minister was unable to fire the current head of the center, Elena Nagornaya, because she went on uninterrupted sick leave early. But Lazoryshinets still appointed his own person, with the explanation "for the duration of the director's temporary absence."
The center's new acting director is Ihor Shkrobanets, a former Party of Regions member who headed the Chernivtsi Regional Health Department for seven years (Lazoryshynets's career is closely tied to Chernivtsi). In 2007, Shkrobanets even ran for the Verkhovna Rada on the Party of Regions list. On February 21, 2014, seeing the Maidan victory and his party facing hard times, he loudly quit the Party of Regions and formed the Christian Revival faction with other former members of the regional council.
Igor Shkrobanets
I don't know how he managed to slip through the cracks of lustration (and the head of lustration, Yegor Sobolev, is currently impossible to reach—he's been chronically unresponsive since the scandal with the Volya party). But Shkrobants' appointment isn't the worst news for the think tank. There's worse news: the center's employees claim that Anatoly Morozov, the former first deputy director, has started showing up again.
Morozov held this position from 2007 to 2013. Prior to 2007, he was responsible for... insuring patients during clinical trials, as the head of the insurance company "Panatseya-1997." As you may recall, the expert center is responsible for clinical trials. As deputy director of the center, Morozov created two more insurance companies: "Garant-Pharmamed" and "Garantiya." Morozov's daughter, Valentina, is listed as the founder of "Garant-Pharmamed," and a certain Alla Stepanenko is listed as its director. "Garantiya" is also linked to Stepanenko.
This same Alla Stepanenko, along with Morozov, became the heads of the Ministry of Health's Central Formulary Committee in 2009. Also in 2011, Stepanenko was appointed advisor to Health Minister Bogatyreva (a position she retained until the end of February 2014).
In 2010, Valentina Nikolaeva-kuma Lazorishintsa became Director of the Clinical Research Department. (Vasiliy Vasilyevich himself was then still serving as First Deputy Minister of Health.)
An attentive reader will easily guess which insurance companies have become monopolies in the clinical trial patient insurance market. These are Garant-Pharmamed and Garantiya. In 2012, for example, Garant-Pharmamed held 36% of the market, Garantiya 20%, and Panacea-1997 13%.
These companies made millions off the health of Ukrainian "test subjects," including children and the mentally ill. And even after Morozov's dismissal, they didn't lose much ground—Morozov retained his connections. But most astonishingly, there was not a single precedent in Ukraine of an insurance payment being paid to a patient injured during a clinical trial.
Earnings illustration. Amounts in USD.
Rumors circulated that the SBU and the prosecutor's office were investigating Morozov's activities. But instead of the arrest expected by the medical community, he was appointed to the Ministry of Health's Qualification Commission on August 1, 2014. And on August 7, Alla Stepanenko was reinstated as deputy head of the Central Formulary Committee.
The return of Morozov, Stepanenko, and others, as far as LB.ua knows, is being lobbied for by pharmaceutical businessman Boris Litovsky (about whom we've already written in detail), who clashed with Elena Nagornaya over the registration of his Indian cancer drugs. He is the one fueling the corruption scandal involving Nagornaya's husband.
Thus, the situation in the expert center risks returning to “pre-revolutionary” circles.
However, the situation is the same in the Ministry of Health.
Prospects for the swamp in Mariinsky Park
Vasyl Lazoryshinets is one of the most likely candidates for the minister's post. As the reader may have already noticed, he has extensive connections—both in politics and in the pharmaceutical industry. Lazoryshinets has a particularly good relationship with Yulia Tymoshenko. They share many memories of loans and swine flu.
Lazoryshinets's candidacy, in general, will suit everyone.
The now-suspended Minister Oleh Musiy is unlikely to retain his position. His completely damaged relationship with Arseniy Yatsenyuk (according to LB.ua, Musiy was suspended precisely because he had a row with the Prime Minister at a Cabinet meeting, not for delays in public procurement), his relationship with influential MP Mykola Martynenko (his man, Musiy's first deputy, Ruslan Salyutin, has also been suspended), and his tarnished reputation (due to Lazoryshinets, who was desperate to head the Ministry of Health and waged a media campaign against Musiy, inciting colleagues to claim the minister's incompetence) will hinder him.
Oleg Musiy
However, Musiy shouldn't be absolved of blame for the delayed drug procurement—the purchases weren't made due to internal squabbles between Ministry of Health officials and the pharmaceutical businessman who managed them. Musiy, as a participant in the squabbles and the person in charge, is unlikely to be "innocent," as he tries to portray the situation.
Olha Bogomolets is also being actively tipped for the minister's position. However, according to LB.ua, she intends to decline the position to avoid damaging her political career with the Ministry of Health's dirty infighting.
Just today, news emerged that Volodymyr Kurpita may become the minister. He is a public figure with extensive connections abroad. He is an infectious disease specialist by training. From 2005 to 2009, he served as a specialist in HIV/AIDS at the World Health Organization Bureau. In 2009, he headed the All-Ukrainian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS. Since 2014, he has been the head of the State Service for Combating HIV/AIDS and Other Socially Dangerous Diseases. He quickly became an influential figure within the Ministry of Health.
Vladimir Kurpita
Rumor has it that Kurpita's appointment, along with Anna Gopko's, is being considered for the position of Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Affairs. She might also be considered for the post of Minister of the cursed place. Which, of course, would be absurd, given her specialty and dissertation on environmental journalism. Doctors aren't exactly welcoming to bosses without a medical degree.
Victoria Gerasimchuk, LB.ua
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