Assignment left unfulfilled: why the Health Department of the Odesa Regional Military Administration refused to review the treatment of a patient who died at the Odrex clinic
Kyiv • UNN
Widow Olha Melai demands that a clinical expert commission be convened to assess her husband's treatment and points out that the Department ignored the existence of records in the Electronic Healthcare System
Olha Melai, the widow of patient Ihor Melai, who died after treatment at the private Odrex clinic, received a response from the Health Department of the Odesa Regional Military Administration to her request to be admitted to a meeting of the clinical expert commission, which the Department was instructed to convene by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. The response states that the Department cannot convene the commission, UNN writes.
The Ministry of Health of Ukraine instructed the Health Department of the Odesa Regional Military Administration to conduct a clinical expert assessment of the quality of medical care and medical services provided to Ihor Melai, who was treated at the private Odrex clinic and subsequently died. The decision was made following a complaint by his widow, Olha Melai, who is asking for the circumstances of her husband's treatment, the medical records, and possible changes to them to be investigated. The widow also sent the Department a statement expressing her desire to be present at the commission meeting – she wanted to provide the medical records in her possession, which, according to her, do not correspond to those provided by the clinic as part of the criminal proceedings.
No documents – no examination
For its part, the Department cites the clinic's response that it does not have the patient's medical records as the reason why it cannot convene the commission, since they were seized as part of the criminal proceedings.
"In view of the above, the Department sent a request to Dim Medytsyny LLC and Medychnyi Dim "Odrex" LLC in order to obtain the relevant documentation for the subsequent conduct of the clinical expert commission. However, the management of the said medical institutions, in letters dated 28.08.2026 No. 919 and 04.09.2026 No. 86, informed the Department that it was impossible to provide the requested medical documentation because it had been seized by law enforcement agencies as part of criminal proceedings dated 11.11.2025 No. 42025163030000187 and 10.11.2025 No. 42025163030000187 and is currently at the disposal of the pretrial investigation authority," the Department reported.
This concerns criminal proceedings in which the police are investigating several patient deaths at the Odrex clinic, including the death of Ihor Melai.
The Department additionally reported "that if the relevant documentation is received, the Department will reinitiate consideration of this clinical case." At the same time, it did not specify any deadlines or steps it had taken or planned to take to obtain this documentation.
Olha Melai has her own arguments and does not plan to give up
According to Olha Melai, she also plans to contact the Ministry of Health, which instructed the commission to be convened. Without a clinical expert commission conducted at the level of the relevant structural subdivision of the regional administration, the Ministry of Health cannot subsequently examine the specific case at its own level. Thus, at present, the investigation of the circumstances and appropriateness of Ihor Melai's treatment is effectively blocked.
Another point Olha Melai drew attention to in a comment to UNN was that her initial complaint included a demand to verify the existence and content of the Electronic Medical Records in the Electronic Health Care System.
"These records are kept in real time, signed with doctors' electronic digital signatures, and cannot be seized by investigators. The Health Department and members of the clinical expert commission have full access to them, but completely ignored this demand," Olha Melai reported.
In addition, according to her, not long ago one of the lawyers representing the interests of the Odrex clinic contacted her with an offer to "sit down and compare" the documentation, since the clinic has copies. So where is the truth, and does the clinic have the documents?
The story of Ihor Melai
Ihor Melai underwent treatment at Odrex for almost eight months—from February to September 2025. In her complaint, the widow asks that the entire treatment period be reviewed, including the prescription of immunochemotherapy, the medical interventions performed, the maintenance of medical records, and entries in the electronic healthcare system.
In the photo: Olha and Ihor Melai. Source: Olha Melai’s Facebook page
According to Melai, her husband was initially scheduled to undergo eight courses of immunochemotherapy, but after the fourth course, the treatment was discontinued. She also asks for an assessment of the circumstances surrounding the surgery to install a pleural port, after which Ihor Melai was admitted to the intensive care unit and spent three days on a ventilator.
The most significant discrepancies in the documents concern this surgery. Melai says that before the operation she signed informed consent specifying local anesthesia. At the same time, a copy of this document that the clinic later submitted to the court referred to intravenous anesthesia. Likewise, she says, the installation of the pleural port was planned, whereas the clinic’s documents described the surgery as urgent. There are also questions about the description of the postoperative period: the documentation states that it passed without complications, although after the surgery the patient spent three days in intensive care on a ventilator.
UNN sent additional inquiries to the Ministry of Health and the Health Department of the Odesa Regional State Administration.