Corruption

Scandal with the tender for the restoration of Okhmatdyt: the Ministry of Health issued a statement

The Ministry of Health has appealed to law enforcement agencies to conduct additional checks on the tender for the restoration of the Kyiv hospital Okhmatdyt. This was announced by the head of the ministry, Viktor Lyashko, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports

As reported earlier, after Ukrainians across the country donated money to rebuild the Okhmatdyt hospital, the hospital’s charitable foundation found itself at the centre of a scandal when it chose a contractor to repair the damaged building. The foundation chose Bud-technology LLC as the winner of the tender, despite the fact that this offer was one of the most expensive among 14 bidders.

The cost of the works by Bud-technology is UAH 307 million excluding VAT, while other participants offered to perform the repairs at a much lower cost – from UAH 42 to 286 million. The Foundation did not provide any explanation for ignoring the cheaper bids, although at least seven of them contained fully completed commercial proposals with detailed descriptions of the work and prices.

HealthMinister Viktor Liashko reminded that on 8 July, the aggressor carried out a terrorist attack on the country’s largest children’s hospital. At the same time, restoring the facilities so that children can continue their treatment is “task No. 1”.

“Based on open source data and analysis of the documents submitted by the bidders, the working group of the Okhmatdyt National Children’s Hospital was recommended to select Bud-Technology Limited Liability Company as the winner of the tender. This was publicly announced by the hospital’s head. The contract has not yet been signed, as the company’s ability to perform all the necessary work was studied,” said Lyashko.

According to him, this choice caused a resonance, “that is why today we have appealed to law enforcement agencies to conduct additional checks.”

“I personally and my team are doing everything to make the process absolutely transparent. Tomorrow, everyone will have the opportunity to ask all their questions. … I invite you to do this at Okhmatdyt at 14:00, where I will be present together with the management of Okhmatdyt and the Foundation,” the Health Minister announced.

He emphasised that after the reconstruction, Okhmatdyt would become “even better, more powerful and modern”.

“From the moment the contract with the contractor is signed, a public report will be published daily to inform people about the use of the money raised by their efforts. We stand for maximum transparency and accountability,” Lyashko summed up.

“The Okhmatdyt Charitable Foundation published a statement on Facebook denying all accusations of non-transparency and dishonesty in the use of funds raised for the restoration of the building.

“We are currently preparing a detailed report on the competitive selection process and the companies that participated in the tender on the SmartTender platform. The tender procedure was open, meaning that any company could participate. We would like to take this opportunity to thank SmartTender for providing the fund with free access to place the procurement and a free opportunity to participate in the bidding for participants, which helped to attract more companies to provide quality services at favourable prices for the Okhmatdyt National Children’s Hospital,” the statement reads.

It is noted that all protocols with conclusions from the Fund and the Okhmatdyt National Children’s Hospital will be made available to the public “to monitor the transparency and integrity of the competitive selection and spending of funds raised after 8 July 2024”.

Russian missile attack on Okhmatdyt hospital on 8 July

on 8 July 2024, during another massive missile attack during the Russian-Ukrainian war, the hospital suffered significant damage from a Russian X-101 cruise missile strike. The strike damaged the hospital’s buildings, destroyed some of the medical facility’s buildings, smashed windows and glass, and caused casualties.

The Russians destroyed the building of the Toxicology Department, where seriously ill children were on dialysis, five oncology departments, ten surgical departments, two somatic departments, an intensive care unit, two intensive care units, operating units, radiotherapy and radiotherapy departments, and three other buildings were damaged. Two electrical substations that powered the hospital’s entire infrastructure were also destroyed.

As of mid-day, two adults (one of them a doctor) and seven children were known to have been killed and injured. on 10 July, a boy died who was in critical condition in the intensive care unit at the time of the attack on Okhmatdyt on 8 July.

on 9 July 2024, the director of Okhmatdyt, Volodymyr Zhovnir, addressed the UN Security Council. In his speech, he stated that at the time of the attack, about 1,200 people were in the hospital and 3 complex operations were underway. The attack killed 2 people and injured about 300, including 8 children. He also noted that the attack damaged 24 departments, which will limit the ability to provide quality medical services to those in need.

Immediately after the attack on the hospital, Ukrainians started raising funds to rebuild Okhmatdyt.

For more news, please follow Kommersant Ukrainian’s telegram channel at https://t.me/komersant_ukrainskyi.

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