The topic of treatment at the scandalous Odrex clinic does not disappear from the public space; activists of the StopOdrex movement report a constant flow of new stories from patients. In more than two months of work, activists have received dozens of complaints, and their number continues to grow. Despite three attempts to block the StopOdrex resource, the movement continues to publish treatment stories. What former Odrex patients complain about most and how the clinic tries to "bury" negative reviews, read in the UNN material.
More than two months have passed since the launch of the StopOdrex movement, which united the families of deceased patients and those who consider themselves victims of treatment at the scandalous Odesa clinic Odrex. During this time, due to the clinic's complaints, the StopOdrex website, where activists anonymously published stories about treatment, news about the progress of the "Odrex Case" and supported each other, has been blocked three times. Because of this, the participants of the StopOdrex movement were forced to transfer communication to Telegram.
Activist Khrystyna Totkailo, whose father died after treatment at Odrex, notes that the scale of the problem turned out to be much larger than they initially imagined.
"The number of people who are willing to anonymously share their negative experience of treatment at Odrex is so large that we did not even expect it at the start. We have been working for more than two months, and it would seem that these stories should end sometime, but feedback continues to come in every day. Dozens of people claim that they were maimed by this clinic, but many simply did not orient themselves in time or did not have the strength to immediately contact law enforcement. If everyone who wrote to us at StopOdrex filed a statement, the number of criminal cases against Odrex would be much higher," says Khrystyna Totkailo.
According to the activist, people most often complain about the discrepancy between medical documentation and real events in wards and operating rooms. They also describe cases when Odrex doctors shocked them with frightening diagnoses that were not confirmed by specialists from other clinics. People also claim that medical staff used the patient's and their relatives' state of despair to impose urgent and expensive procedures. Such a tactic of psychological influence on a person at a critical moment causes particular concern.
"People write about terrible things. Most often, these are incorrectly made fatal diagnoses, which were later refuted in other hospitals. They also often talk about emotional pressure and intimidation. People write that they were told that if they did not start expensive treatment or have surgery at Odrex "right now," they would die. And those who lost loved ones within the clinic's walls say that adequate communication from the clinic ended as soon as the last bill for medical services was closed. Moreover, the victims report strange changes in medical documentation: in the extracts, they do not find procedures for which they actually paid a lot of money, or vice versa - they see procedures in the extracts that no one performed on their relatives," adds Khrystyna.
The goal of the StopOdrex movement is not only to collect stories and publish them anonymously, but also to create an independent space for psychological support. Activists help victims understand that they are not alone in the fight for justice and truth. It is this unity that has become the biggest threat to the clinic's image, Khrystyna Totkailo is convinced. She believes that it is the fear of inevitable disclosure of real stories that forces the clinic to resort to blocking the work of StopOdrex resources.
"The clinic understands perfectly well what they have been doing all these years. They see the number of dissatisfied people who have finally started to speak. They see real stories of people that cannot simply be deleted. That is why they so stubbornly blocked our website through complaints to international organizations and hosting providers. They are panically afraid that the truth will become known to everyone. But blocking a website does not mean blocking people's memory. The truth has a tendency to come out, no matter how deeply they try to bury it under advertising banners and complaints," adds the activist.
The UNN editorial office contacted the Odesa clinic to get a comment from the administration regarding the "Odrex Case" and the circumstances described by the activists of the StopOdrex movement and former patients. However, at the time of publication, the "Odrex" clinic left the questions unanswered.
The position of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine is also indicative in this situation. Despite the fact that at least 10 criminal proceedings are being investigated regarding Odrex's activities, and the flow of complaints from patients does not subside, the regulator did not find any violations of the clinic's license conditions. Such a "paper" compliance of Odrex against the background of tragedies creates a dangerous conclusion: in the Ukrainian medical system, the patient remains virtually unprotected. After all, when the regulator ignores mass complaints from patients about the clinic and criminal cases, referring to formal compliance with protocols, it is not just silence, it is a signal that people are left alone with their tragedies.