Corruption schemes involving evasion of mobilization, falsification of medical diagnoses, and medical negligence – today, this is the reality of popular private clinics in Odesa. Medical institutions with once impeccable reputations: Into-Sana, Odrex, and "Saint Catherine's Hospital" have become subjects of criminal proceedings. What is happening with Odesa's private medicine, read in the UNN material.
Just a few years ago, patients went to private medicine with the understanding that it would be safe and high-quality, fast and expensive, but also free of corruption. However, the realities of the full-scale war have highlighted another side of the coin: private medical institutions have become a "convenient" tool for implementing corrupt schemes.
One such episode was the case of suspicion of influence peddling by the head of the polyclinic department of "Saint Catherine's Hospital." According to UNN sources in law enforcement agencies, the family doctor acted in prior conspiracy with unidentified persons. The scheme involved the production of medical documents with a "necessary diagnosis," which were to serve as grounds for establishing a Group II disability and, subsequently, as a reason for deferment from mobilization. The cost of the entire package of "services," according to the investigation, was $16,000.
A similar criminal "trail" also follows the Into-Sana clinic. Here, the stakes were even higher – about $22,000 for the "correct" diagnosis. As UNN reported earlier, more than 100 people could have used the corrupt services of a medic from this clinic.
If "Saint Catherine's Hospital" and Into-Sana are involved in corruption cases, the Odrex clinic has become the epicenter of the most painful issue – medical negligence.
The scandal surrounding the clinic began with the resonance over the death of businessman Adnan Kivan at Odrex. It is currently known that Odrex is involved in at least 10 more criminal proceedings – an unprecedented number for a single private institution. The charges vary: from improper performance of professional duties to fraud and intentional homicide.
Families of deceased patients and people who consider themselves victims of treatment at the clinic have launched the public movement StopOdrex. Its participants collect and publish anonymous stories of former clinic patients on their website and Telegram channel. In these stories, they recount their negative experiences with Odrex treatment. Journalists have dubbed this resonant case surrounding the private Odesa clinic "The Odrex Case."
Systemic failure or a new "norm"?
Today, we see how a medical license in the hands of cunning operators can turn from a tool of salvation into a means of aggressive and cynical profit, where the patient is merely a "client" in an enrichment scheme.
What is happening in Odesa's medicine is an alarming signal. The model of "buying quality and professionalism for money" no longer works. A high bill at the cashier has ceased to be a guarantee that the patient will receive adequate treatment, and not become part of the statistics of "medical negligence" or a participant in a corruption chain.
The situation requires not only pinpoint arrests of individual doctors "red-handed." It requires a review of the entire system of state control over the private medical sector. While the Ministry of Health limits itself to formal inspections, patients in Odesa, and not only there, are forced to become investigators and unite in movements like StopOdrex to protect their right to medical care. Whether these cases will be the beginning of a cleansing for Odesa's medicine, or whether they will simply fill the archives – the question remains open.