"Asthma for $11,000": a scheme of fictitious diagnoses for evading military service exposed in Kyiv
Kyiv • UNN
In Kyiv, a cardiologist from a private center and an intermediary were exposed for helping conscripts obtain fake diagnoses for money. The scheme involved fictitious treatment and registration of illnesses, such as bronchial asthma, to be removed from military registration.
In Kyiv, law enforcement officers exposed a cardiologist of a private medical center and an intermediary who, for money, helped conscripts obtain fake diagnoses that allowed them to avoid service. This was reported by the press service of the Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office, writes UNN.
Details
"Notices of suspicion have been served on a cardiologist of a private medical center and an intermediary who helped doctors of state medical institutions earn money by establishing fictitious diagnoses for conscripts in order to remove them from military registration," the prosecutor's office said.
According to the prosecutor's office, the scheme involved directing "clients" to doctors of state institutions, where they underwent fictitious treatment and were taught how to properly complain about symptoms.
In particular, the case concerns a Kyiv resident whom the organizers helped to arrange a diagnosis of "bronchial asthma with heart complications." The cost of the "service," as indicated, was $11,000, of which the man managed to transfer $5,500 under the control of law enforcement officers.
"Thus, in total, the conscript was supposed to pay $11,000 for all services. Each referral for consultation, each stage of "diagnosis" and "inpatient treatment" had its price," the prosecutor's office reported.
As a result, the patient received a full package of medical documents that allowed him to be excluded from military registration.
Prosecutors qualified the actions of the suspects under Part 5 of Article 27 and Part 4 of Article 354 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – complicity in obtaining unlawful benefits by an institution employee, committed by prior conspiracy of a group of persons. The court chose a preventive measure for them in the form of detention with the possibility of bail.
Currently, law enforcement officers are identifying other medical professionals who may have been involved in this scheme and the falsification of medical documents.