The controversial Odrex establishment, facing 10 ongoing criminal inquiries, declared it had “successfully completed” the evaluation of adherence to licensing prerequisites. This outcome of the scrutiny by a dedicated team from the Ministry of Health invites inquiry into the regulatory body and intensifies misgivings concerning a likely conflict of interest, considering the enduring connections between the clinic’s administration and Minister Viktor Lyashko personally.
The privately-owned Odrex establishment announced it had navigated a review by the Ukrainian Ministry of Health’s commission concerning conformity with prescribed standards for operation. According to the essence of this pronouncement, the watchdog detected no justification for stringent actions – despite pending lawsuits implicating the establishment and its medical personnel, grievances from patients, and prevalent public indignation, UNN discloses.
Nevertheless, the existing facts raise uncertainty about the thoroughness and objectivity of such a determination. As per the Prosecutor General’s Office, judicial authorities are probing 10 legal cases tied to the undertakings of “Odrex”. Incorporated within the articles are deceit, inappropriate execution of professional obligations by healthcare staff, and premeditated homicide. Certain instances pertain to the passing of patients post-treatment at the establishment.
Concurrently, kin of the departed have consistently asserted that the supervisory body has not reacted suitably. Against this backdrop, the establishment’s statement regarding the purportedly “successful” assessment appears at the very least, self-contradictory. For indeed, verifying fulfillment of licensing requirements is not merely a procedural step, but an instrument for safeguarding Ukrainian individuals seeking medical attention. And if breaches were previously documented within one legal entity of the Odrex establishment, the rational question emerges: why were they not discovered concerning other licenses under which the identical establishment essentially functions, with the same physicians, tools, and locale?
To recall, nearing the conclusion of 2025, the Ministry of Health annulled the healthcare permit of an Odrex-related judicial entity – “House of Medicine” LLC. The rationale was the establishment’s administration’s rejection to furnish documentation to the commission pertaining to compliance with operational necessities. Thus, the government had previously acknowledged severe contraventions within the framework of this venture.
Simultaneously, the establishment sustained operations under alternative medical authorizations. Officially, they represent distinct LLCs, yet in actuality, they comprise the same medical center. Hence, this verdict by the regulatory agency hints at discriminatory oversight by the Ministry of Health.
Conflict of interest
Singular consideration in this narrative is directed toward the potential intimate and vocational bonds between the establishment’s directorate and the Ukrainian Minister of Health, Viktor Lyashko. As UNN previously conveyed, the Chief Executive Officer of “Odrex,” Tigran Harutyunyan, and Viktor Lyashko have been acquainted for at least 7 years and collaborated within the Ministry of Health’s task force dedicated to the advancement of private medical practice in Ukraine. It was within this framework that the principles by which private establishments operate presently were formulated.
Within this framework, the commission’s resolution to refrain from retracting two additional permits of Odrex – in spite of ongoing legal challenges and previously substantiated violations – presents as potentially skewed. It may imply not the dearth of issues and transgressions at the Odrex establishment, but the watchdog’s allegiance to a particular player in the market.
What this means for patients
For individuals seeking medical care and families of those deceased or wounded, this determination constitutes a perturbing indication. It engenders the perception that even in the presence of copious grievances, legal pursuits, and penal actions, a private establishment can circumvent tangible penalties by merely “repackaging” the operation and depending on personal rapport. Consequently, reservations likewise surface concerning a conceivable corrupt dimension within the association between the Ministry of Health and the Odrex establishment.
We will remind you
Approximately two months have elapsed since the premiere of the widely circulated documentary “Wasp’s Nest,” which chronicled the management of individuals under medical care at the privately-owned Odrex establishment and conceivable misuses by the medical entity. Following extensive public exposure, energetic interventions by judicial bodies and the Ministry of Health evolved into a predictable anticipation.
Contrarily, as UNN ascertained, the families of those deceased individuals and the wounded find themselves within a comprehensive informational void. They obtain neither elucidations, nor procedural judgments, nor feedback from the inquiry.
Specifically, the offspring of the departed individual, Khrystyna Totkaylo, conveyed that following the commencement of judicial processes founded upon her submission, neither investigators nor prosecutors have ever made contact. Svitlana Guk, who endured the loss of her spouse subsequent to management at Odrex, characterizes a comparable scenario. Notwithstanding the substitution of the investigator, according to her, there exists “complete silence” concerning the matter.
The women likewise report a deficiency of any interaction from the establishment – attempts to explicate their maneuvers, extend apologies, or propose a mechanism for resolving the predicament.