The personnel of  Chernihiv hospitals abuses the charitable donations procedures.


This was one of the conclusions of the research conducted by the CN “OPORA” in Chernihiv. The monitoring studies were focused on the abuses related to the provision of services to the patients in Chernihiv hospitals.

The presentation of the research took place on September, 9 at the round table called “Free Medicine: Myth or Reality?” For the discussion of the results the representatives of the public health service in the city and in the region, along with political parties were invited.

CN “OPORA” recorded a number of law violations in the health care, that are connected with paid services and charitable contributions paid in the hospitals.

Very often the situation occurs, when the patients are told during the survey that they should pay for the certain service, for the film or the medicines. In fact, the majority of such payments should be only voluntary. But the patient is not reported about this. Moreover, the payment goes straight into the pocket of the doctor rather than through bank accounts, as it’s required by law.  It is not the guarantee that the money will be used for the needs of the hospital. It was affirmed by the sociological surveys, focus groups and voluntary work in the city hospitals. Thus, the patient pays and medicine remains underfunded.

As for the bribery in hospitals, the researchers concluded that there is the certain culture of material gratitude to the doctor for the given treatment, caused not only by sole gratification for the healing. According to the sociological poll, conducted within the project, 24% of patients “thank” to the doctor because they were alluded on this or just straightly told in the hospital, whereas other 22,6% wanted to be treated better.

However, the most part of the patients are not ready to defend their rights. There are multiple reasons for it – low awareness of their own rights, critical situation of the patient, the absence of the alternative health care institutions, lack of confidence in the resolving the situation for the better of the patient, - and the traditional corruption of the local inhabitants.

The provided information caused mixed reactions of the round table participants.

Hanna YAKUBOVA, the deputy of the city council and the chief physician of the Chernihiv children’s hospital #2, drew attention to the situation faced by medicine in general and the doctors in particular. The funds, allocated by the state, are enough only for paying the wages, electricity, and  the medicines.

“We should not forget the humiliated position of the medicine employees. Because of the low wages and big amounts of work the young specialists do not want to work in the hospitals. We have a critical lack of personnel, - noticed Hanna Vasylivna.

In general, the participants agreed with the conclusions of “OPORA”. Nina TOVPYHA , the deputy head of the district health department, thanked for such a profound analytical work and assured that this data will be useful for management.

Despite the acuteness of the information provided by “OPORA”, Nina noted that she didn’t feel they are “on the opposed barricades”, but rather “felt the eagerness for the joint resolving of the problems highlighted in the survey”. Participants agreed that the problem lies in the imperfect system of healthcare and the lack of reforms. This situation satisfies neither the patients nor the doctors themselves.

“We don’t want to criticize, or, what is more, to blame anyone. We understand that both patients and doctors have become hostages  to inefficient, long-outdated system with poor state  funding, - as commented  Tetiana Pekur, the curator of the project “Reducing of the corruption in the field of health care in Chernihiv through the public monitoring of the hospitals” (within the project “Decent Ukraine”).

"We just want to draw attention to the fact that the problem exists. After all, if it will not be recognized, if we will not begin to discuss it, it will continue without any prospects for change. Unless we start from the beginning, we will get the same poor medicine, dissatisfied patients and doctors, deprived of the state attention, - concluded Tetiana.

Organizers of the event are sure that some of these violations can be resolved locally. The main goal is to maintain the common vision of the health care representatives, deputies and the people. In addition, it is crucial to inform the patients on their rights. This will be the further task of the project.

The Information section of the

Chernihiv department

CN “OPORA”