Residents of Mykolaiv are once again complaining about the «Sotsfarm» pharmacy in the city centre: «Children are finding used syringes»

Residents are complaining about the situation near the «Sotsfarm» pharmacy. Photos provided by readers of NikVesti

Residents of the blocks of flats at 24 Tsentralnyi Avenue in Mykolaiv are once again complaining about the «Sotsfarm» pharmacy. According to them, after visiting the pharmacy, drug addicts go into the courtyard between the blocks, where children are playing and a nursery is located.

The residents wrote to the editorial office of NikVesti about this and provided photos and videos.

«The «Sotsfarm» pharmacy, located at 24 Tsentralnyi Avenue, dispenses and sells narcotic substances. After leaving this pharmacy, customers go into the courtyard situated between two residential blocks, where children are playing and a nursery is located,» the residents’ letter states.

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According to the authors of the petition, children have repeatedly come across used syringes and needles in the courtyard.

Residents also state that they have lodged complaints with the city authorities; however, they say the problem has not been resolved. They are asking for the pharmacy to be relocated to another site, as they fear for the safety of children and other residents.

«This is the sort of crowd that hangs around in our courtyard after leaving this pharmacy and starts taking whatever they can to get into the state shown in the video,» the residents noted.

At the same time, the city health department had previously stated that there were no pharmacies on the list of establishments participating in the substitution maintenance therapy programme. Therefore, the residents’ claim that it is this particular pharmacy that dispenses medication as part of such a programme requires separate verification.

Residents are complaining about the situation outside the ‘Sotsfarm’ pharmacy. Photos provided by NikVesti readers

Residents are complaining about the situation outside the ‘Sotsfarm’ pharmacy. Photos provided by NikVesti readers

This is not the first time residents of Mykolaiv have complained about such pharmacies. Previously, local residents had drawn attention to a similar situation outside a pharmacy on 3rd Slobidska Street.

Following widespread complaints from city residents, Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych instructed the head of the city’s health department, Iryna Shamray, to investigate the situation and ascertain the criteria used in Mykolaiv to determine the locations of pharmacies participating in the state programme and selling substitution maintenance therapy (SMT) drugs to people with drug dependencies.

In turn, Iryna Shamrai explained that in Mykolaiv, such medicines are dispensed only at two municipal healthcare facilities, which are under the authority of the city council.

According to her, patients receive the medicines exclusively on a doctor’s prescription and under medical supervision. Meanwhile, pharmacies in Mykolaiv and the region do not dispense SMT medicines and do not take part in this programme.

Oleksandr Sienkevych therefore instructed the police to investigate the pharmacies about which residents have complained due to gatherings of people whom they suspect of using drugs.