Voice MP accuses health minister of stalling on coronavirus supplies

Illia Yemets, the
newly appointed health minister, is stalling the approval of a UAH 67 mln
medical procurement agreement, which includes supplies to combat the
coronavirus, with the intention of misappropriating the funds, alleged on Mar.
26 Oleksandra Ustinova, an MP with the neoliberal Voice party. The agreement,
which was signed by former PM Oleksiy Honcharuk in mid-February, includes the
purchase of 1.1 mln masks, 150K artificial respirators and 125K medical gowns.
The agreement requires the signature of Yemets, who has stalled for three
weeks, she alleged in an article published of the life.pravda.com.ua news site.

As her evidence,
Ustinova cited Yemets’s attempts to install his own intermediary in the
purchase – a state enterprise with top officials previously suspected of
misappropriation – in place of the international organization mandated by the
agreement. “It will be interesting whether law enforcement authorities will
open a case against their ‘own’ minister now. Medical scrubs now are like
bulletproof jackets for soldiers on the frontline … They are lacking because
they can’t decide how to ‘divvy up’ UAH 67 mln,” she wrote.

As a result of such
delays, four medical doctors in the Ternopil region have been infected with the
coronavirus, Ustinova wrote, citing data from the Ternopil Headquarters to
Fight the Coronavirus. Two of them are family doctors who treated patients with
coronavirus symptoms. They were infected because they lack supplies to protect
themselves, including disposable medical scrubs, masks and gloves, she wrote.
The Ternopil region, located in the West and among the poorest in Ukraine, has
many residents working abroad who have returned in recent weeks.

The coronavirus
situation has reached a critical level in the Monastyryskà district of the
Ternopil region, Voice MP Yulia Klymenko said on her Facebook page on Mar. 25.
The district has four confirmed infections, and one death, she said. “Not less
than 500 people have been in contact with the infected, especially all the
priests of the district, who conducted services for a week in the churches.
Family doctors have also been in contact with three of the infected. Two of
them have symptoms. As of today, the entire hospital is in isolation because
one of the worker, who was sick for three weeks, ha a confirmed diagnosis. They
aren’t allowing doctors to go home,” she wrote. The district hospital lacks
adequate equipment, including tests and artificial respirators, she wrote.

As of noon Mar. 26,
five people have died in Ukraine of the COVID-19 disease, according to the
Center for Public Health at the Health Ministry. An estimated 156 people have
been infected, an increase of 38%, or 43 cases, from the prior day. Of those
infected, only patient is confirmed to have recovered.

Zenon Zawada: So far, the situation in Ukraine is
more-or-less stable, based on the data that is available. The severe quarantine
measures are more-or-less effective, with more being considered by the cabinet,
such as shutting all passenger traffic across Ukraine’s border.

It’s positive to see
the Voice party take a leading role in addressing the coronavirus crisis,
particularly in Ukraine’s western regions, where its electoral results were
strong last year. Having lost its poll ratings since parliament convened in
September, the party can recover its public support with such vigilant activity
in dealing with the crisis.