Today, a high-profile scandal unfolded in Ukraine in the field of medical transplantation, when former Deputy Minister of Health Mykhailo Zagriychuk and ten other high-ranking doctors were detained on suspicion of violating legislation regarding the distribution of organs for transplantation.
This former deputy minister turned out to be Mykhailo Zagriychuk , his own sources reported. He confirmed this and stated that as of now he is a suspect, not detained.
Mykhailo Zagriychuk
Mykhailo Zagriychuk was Deputy Minister Zoryana Skaletska. He currently works as the Head of the Department of Transplantation and Abdominal Surgery at the Heart Institute, headed by Boris Todurov.
Criminal proceedings were opened under parts 1 and 2 of Article 255, part 5 of Article 143, and part 3 of Article 362 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
- Creation of a criminal organization, leadership of such an organization or its structural parts, participation in a criminal organization
- The actions provided for in parts two, three or four of this article, committed by a group of persons in advance of a conspiracy, or participation in transnational organizations engaged in such activities - the previous paragraphs are the removal from a person by force or deception of his anatomical materials for the purpose of their transplantation, such actions are committed against a person who was in a helpless state or in material or other dependence on the perpetrator, illegal trade in human anatomical materials
- unauthorized modification, destruction or blocking of information processed in electronic computers (computers), automated systems or computer networks or stored on media of such information, committed by a person who has the right to access it, unauthorized interception or copying of information processed in electronic computers (computers), automated systems, computer networks or stored on media of such information, if this led to its leakage, committed by a person who has the right to access such information.
All eleven doctors have been declared suspicious.
According to two sources familiar with the case, the investigation suspects that a group of doctors sold the transplant queue, that transplant coordinators were involved and received money for the fraud with the queue. All this was allegedly done so that the Heart Institute would receive organs for transplants.
“If the queue moves, it’s definitely not free for the person for whom it was moved,” says the interlocutor, another source says the same. That is, we are talking about interference in the Unified State Information System for Transplantation, YEDIST.
Both interlocutors also say that investigators conducted this case for a long time, using technical means for wiretapping.
The General Director of the Ukrainian Transplant Coordination Center, Dmytro Koval, in a comment to Suspilny, said that law enforcement officers contacted the Ukrainian Transplant Coordination Center in April 2024. He stated that there was no unauthorized access to YEDIST and law enforcement officers know this. When asked whether they could have changed the data in YEDIST in an authorized manner, Koval replied: “Each user makes certain changes to YEDIST, but there are currently no complaints about the work of YEDIST.”.
The high-profile case and the detention of so many doctors have led to the fact that transplants from deceased donors have not been performed in Ukraine for two weeks. Doctors are afraid, says a knowledgeable source, to declare death.
