Mykolaiv Children's Hospital embezzlement case: court refuses to return medical records to the hospital

The Vitovskyi District Court rejected the request of the Mykolaiv Regional Children's Clinical Hospital to return the seized medical records of patients. The documents were seized as part of an investigation into the alleged misappropriation or embezzlement of over 20 million hryvnias in budget funds.

This is stated in the decision of the Vitovskyi District Court.

As a reminder, in 2023, the head physician of the regional children's hospital, Oleksandr Plitkin, was searched in a case of large-scale embezzlement.

According to the investigation, in 2022, hospital officials, together with representatives of the National Health Service, could have illegally received money intended for the treatment of newborns with severe complications. For this purpose, they allegedly used forged documents.

According to «Anti-Corruption Dimension», in 2022, the NHSU transferred 38.2 million hryvnias to the hospital. At the same time, the actual number of treatment cases was only 86, so the cost should have been about 12 million hryvnias. More than 20 million hryvnias could have been misappropriated.

During a search in late 2023, law enforcement officers seized 979 medical records. The hospital insisted that these documents were needed for work and were not relevant to the case. However, the court agreed with the investigators' position: the cards could contain important evidence, including information about children's treatment and parental contacts, which could have been used in the scheme.

The investigation under the article on misappropriation, embezzlement or seizure of property through abuse of office is ongoing. The seizure of documents remains in force.

Scandal in the reorganised Children's Home in Mykolaiv

As you know, on 3 March it became known that the monitoring group of the Ombudsman's Office, together with NGOs, conducted an inspection of children's educational institutions in Mykolaiv region and found gross violations of children's rights. The children were fixed with belts to chairs and strollers, and a six-month-old baby suffered swelling from «tying». In other institutions, children were given expired medicines, did not receive medical care and had limited access to basic services.

On the same day, Inna Miroshnychenko, an orphan rights activist and lawyer, showed the conditions in which children live in the reorganised Centre for Medical Rehabilitation and Palliative Care in Mykolaiv (Regional Children's Home). She actually showed the children tied to armchairs, who are not allowed to go for walks and are forced to spend time watching TV.

The human rights activist said that according to the conditions, 89 staff members are supposed to take care of the children. However, as it turned out from the data of the Ombudsman's Office monitoring team, only two employees were looking after the children. She called the conditions in which the children were kept inhumane.

At the same time, none of the officials and deputies of the Mykolaiv region commented on the situation. Although the editorial board of NikVesti tried to get a comment on the situation from representatives of the local authorities.

However, the scandal was commented on by the mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych. The mayor added that although the city is not directly involved in the institution, the issue is already under the control of the regional council. He also reminded that the city has a Children's Service that actively deals with adoption and guardianship issues and supports family-type orphanages.

In addition, the Health Department of Mykolaiv Regional State Administration said it had set up a special commission to check the actions of the staff of the reorganised Centre for Medical Rehabilitation and Palliative Care after the Ombudsman's Office published a report on violations of children's rights.

It should be noted that in April 2024, the Centre for Medical Rehabilitation and Palliative Care was merged with the Mykolaiv Regional Children's Hospital. At the time, this decision was explained by the need to «protect» the institution from lack of funding.

We would also like to remind you that this is not the first scandalous case involving the Mykolaiv Oblast Children's Hospital. Back in July 2023, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the hospital was in poor condition during his visit to Mykolaiv.

In one of the wards, Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that the room was not adapted for a comfortable stay. In particular, the ward lacked curtain rods, curtains, and air conditioning.