Recently, the Laboratory of the Institute of Public Health named after. Marzeeva appealed to the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky and the Prime Minister, the leadership of the SBU and the Ministry of Health with a request to prevent the transfer of the market for laboratory control of medicines to private hands.
“State control of the quality of medicines is being transferred to the hands of private business, while the State Medical Service uses for its own purposes the private authorized laboratory “Dobrobut Likilab”, created for itself. We ask you to intervene and restore order in the pharmaceutical industry of Ukraine, because delay will lead to the industry losing its scientific potential, accumulated experience and competent specialists in the future,” reads the text of the institute’s letter to the leadership of the country and the industry.
Lenta.ua journalists have already found out that the leaders of the State Service of Ukraine for Medicines and Drug Control created a scheme that threatens state interests and the health of Ukrainians.
Chairman of the State Medical Service Roman Isaenko, together with his deputy Vladimir Korolenko, is actively displacing the laboratory of the Institute. Marzeev from the market for quality control of drugs and medicines.
As follows from the investigation, over the past few years, the personnel potential of the State Medical Service has decreased significantly. People are intimidated with criminal cases, forced to resign, and “their” employees are appointed.
Back in 2014, three comrades Roman Isaenko, Vladimir Korolenko and Maxim Volodya founded the public organization “Kiev Club”. From open sources, the purpose and nature of the activities of this organization are completely unclear. After Isaenko was appointed chairman of the State Lexicon Service, he gave the position of deputy to his acquaintance, and helped Volodya become director of the State Enterprise “Ukrainian Pharmaceutical Institute of Quality,” which is subordinate to the State Lexicon Service.
All activities of the government governing body, which is the State Lexic Service, are aimed at the private beneficial interests of the above-mentioned trinity.
Numerous representatives of manufacturers from Europe and Asia complain about the insatiable appetites of corrupt officials in the State Lexical Service. And when we try to urge them to act in accordance with the current legislation, they receive the answer: we need to share with the “curators” in the SBU, State Bureau of Investigation, the Ministry of Health and others.
Extortion of bribes and the creation of artificial obstacles to the entry of quality drugs into the Ukrainian market flourished in abundance.
“They are trying to accuse us of being incompetent, of falsifying data, of not being an authorized laboratory on our Ukrainian market. We see that our laboratory is gradually being squeezed out of our market. We do not receive any referrals, although for 28 years in a row we have worked with the State Medical Service and authorized bodies, the Ministry of Health, the Security Service of Ukraine, the police and other competent authorities,” said the head of the laboratory of the Institute. Marzeeva Natalya Ostanina at a press conference.
At the same time, according to Ostanina, in August last year a completely new laboratory appeared on the market, which received authority literally two weeks after its appearance.
“Ever since our laboratory stopped receiving referrals for quality control from the State Medical Service, we began to receive feedback. Everyone who was redirected to this new laboratory came back to us asking for help in conducting research - the newly created laboratory had neither standards nor chemicals,” she said.
According to her, “all heads of departments that are associated with quality control of medicines are apparently interested in ensuring that referrals do not go to our laboratory.”
At the same time, Ostanina did not name the list of drugs in question. I just clarified that we are talking about Dobrobut Likelab LLC.
We managed to find another witness to the brazen actions of the leadership of the State Service of Ukraine.
The head of the State Service for Medicines in the Vinnytsia region, Igor Kotlinsky, spoke about the criminal personnel policy of Roman Isaenko. The latter decided to appoint a person under his control, Nikolai Bondar, as head of the territorial body. They are beginning to put pressure on Kotlinsky in every possible way, opening disciplinary proceedings.
Isaenko, probably in collusion with representatives of the Ministry of Health and law enforcement agencies, found a licensee who was supposed to open a pharmacy in Gaisin, Vinnytsia region and “slip” a bribe to the inspector, supposedly for the manager. This would be a guaranteed basis for dismissing the manager.
“From the very beginning, my team understood what was happening, understanding the meanness and deceit of Isaenko and the people who helped him organize the foundation, and due to a sharp deterioration in health due to outright slander and mobbing, I was forced to resign “of my own free will” , which he informed his team about. The team, seeing the unprofessionalism and cynicism of the Chairman of the State Medical Service Roman Isaenko and his controlled persons in the State Medical Service towards themselves, was also forced to quit,” Kotlinsky said.
It is noteworthy that the Vinnytsia District Administrative Court sided with the victim: it declared unlawful and canceled the order of the State Service of Ukraine for Medicines and Drug Control No. 176-k dated 05/03/2023 on the application of a disciplinary sanction to Igor Vasilyevich Kotlinsky in the form of a warning about incomplete performance compliance.
“Covering up” the criminal actions and inaction of the Chairman of the State Service of Ukraine, Roman Isaenko, is his close friend, an employee of the Security Service of Ukraine, Valentin Ovramets, who introduces himself as an adviser to the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmygal on health issues, but in fact is an adviser to the Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers Oleg Nemchinov.
Let us remind you that the ex-head of the SBU “I” department Artem Shilo until recently led the most high-profile cases against Ukrainian business, and now he may go to jail. For almost two years, NABU has been investigating a possible corruption scheme worth UAH 95 million at Ukrzaliznytsia, which Shilo is suspected of organizing.
It seems that a similar role for the control of shadow schemes, but already in the State Lexic Service, was performed by Valentin Ovramets from the specified department.
According to our sources, SBU officer Valentin Ovramets recently acquired a plot of land with non-residential premises near Kiev and plans to build either a hotel or a catering establishment there.
However, the security officer’s family was not always involved in matters unrelated to the State Service of Ukraine. From open sources we managed to find out that the wife, Yulia Aleksandrovna Ovramets, was the owner of the pharmaceutical company VAYUM-PHARM LLC (code 43707321) until the beginning of 2023. The LLC is registered in a residential building.
The company is little known on the market; apparently the pharmaceutical business did not bring the expected results. Therefore, the wife recently became the owner of another company, Rodovoye LLC (code 45191807).
According to eyewitnesses, in 2023, an SBU employee and the chairman of the State Lexical Service purchased identical Volkswagen electric cars. Apparently after a successful “deal”.
Thanks to the fruitful cooperation of the “curator” from the SBU and the greedy chairman of the State Medical Service, it is not surprising that the head of Ostanina notes that the situation that has developed in the market for laboratory quality control services for medicines could lead to the disappearance of a number of drugs from the market, because the service believes that according to the law only they have the right to decide where to send the drug for quality control, without taking into account the capabilities of authorized laboratories.
“There are much fewer drugs on our market than there were several years ago, or even two years ago. Of course, this is due to the war, complex logistics, but also the prohibitions applied by our State Service of Medicines. If the performers could not understand how to conduct research, they simply write that the drug does not meet the declared quality and the State Service of Medicines is introducing a ban throughout the country,” she said.
“Using forceful methods and actions such as intimidation, threats of lawsuits and showdowns in government agencies, unscheduled inspections, slander, threats of exclusion from authorized laboratories, false publications in the media, etc. in Ukraine, they are destroying the only laboratory among budgetary government institutions that is requalified by WHO, accredited and certified according to international standards,” note workers of the Laboratory of the Institute of Public Health.
Let us add that they are destroying the state laboratory so that all their transactions, uncontrolled by anyone, can be carried out in the private laboratory “Dobrobut Likelab”.
Until recently, Artem Shilo was the almost all-powerful head of the Main Directorate for Counterintelligence Protection of Critical Infrastructure Facilities and Combating the Financing of Terrorism of the SBU. And now he is officially called the leader of a criminal group that stole funds from the Ukrzaliznytsia Joint Stock Company.
It is likely that a similar fate awaits Roman Isaenko and Valentin Ovramets. But while this happens, how much more damage will be caused to the reputation of the State Service of Ukraine and, most importantly, to the health of ordinary Ukrainians due to corruption.