Dialysis in Ukraine

2021: The court refused "Fresenius Medical Ker Ukraine" to pay compensation for hemodialysis services rendered

As it became known on September 9, 2021, "" Fresenius Medical Ker Ukraine the representative the German of the company providing dialysis services and products for dialysis is concerned about possible pressure on the court in cases of compensation payments to the company for hemodialysis services rendered. More. here

2019

Poltava hospital will buy for 21 million UAH hemodialysis products from a company associated with an adviser to the ex-governor of the region

On August 22, 2019, it became known that the Poltava Regional Clinical Hospital named after M.V. Sklifosovsky Poltava Regional Council On August 8, 2019, according to the results of the tender, Index LLC ordered supplies for hemodialysis for UAH 21.00 million. This was announced by Maxim Samodyuk in the publication "Zmist" with reference to the data of the Prozorro system. More details here.

Collusion of companies to block the supply of dialysis drugs revealed

On February 26, 2019, information appeared that Ukrainian dialysis a corruption scheme was revealed on the market by law enforcement agencies, because of which thousands of Ukrainians could not get help on time, and drug prices were artificially overstated.

After the investigation by the employees of the Main Directorate of Counterintelligence Protection of the Economy of the Security Service Ukraine(GU KZE SBU) Kiev and the Head of the SBU, embezzlement of budget funds medical in the sphere in the amount of about seven million hryvnias was revealed. As it turned out, Diavita LLC (represents the the American company) Baxter and Link-Medital (sells products) the German Fresenius created an artificial deficit in the dialysis market. In addition to corruption, in which law enforcement officers accuse them, these pharmaceutical companies blocked the supply of dialysis drugs, using the capabilities of the electronic system of Ukraine state procurements. So, "Prozorro" only during 2017-2018, one of the companies filed 32 complaints and blocked bidding for 582 days. Another responded with 39 complaints. In total, bidding and, accordingly, deliveries were blocked for 702 days, which created problems with the provision of patients with the necessary drugs and materials for dialysis.

Following the investigation, the commercial director of the supplier, the chief specialist of the Vinnitsa hospital and the director of the Institute of Nephrology of the Academy of Sciences were charged with embezzlement of funds for the purchase of consumables for peritoneal dialysis. The case was sent to court.

For their part, pharmaceutical companies were forced to reduce prices for dialysis drugs several times. As noted, the number of deaths from kidney diseases eventually decreased significantly - so, if 152 patients died prematurely in 2016, then in 2017 this figure fell to 128 people.^[1]

Artificial cleansing of the body from toxic substances and metabolic products, or dialysis, is a vital procedure for patients with severe kidney disease, which patients are forced to undergo several times a week. This is done either with the help of an artificial kidney apparatus or the procedure is carried out independently at home using peritoneal dialysis methods. In Ukraine, only according to official data, more than 30 thousand citizens who, without lengthy blood purification procedures, cannot live three times a week more than one and a half to two months.

2018

Two importers shared the market for consumables for dialysis in Ukraine

According to December 2018, the Ukrainian market for consumables for dialysis was actually divided by two competing groups of companies with the conditional names "Fresenius" and "Gambra." According to the head of the Secretariat of the IHO "Deputy Control" Yuri Zhytomyr, this entails an overstatement of the real cost of medical supplies sometimes by 300%.

The Fresenius group includes the companies Fresenius Medical Ker Ukraine LLC, Renart LLC and the joint Ukrainian-German enterprise TTV-Dom. In turn, a group of Gambra companies is formed by Gambramed SMEs, Dialservice LLC and Rumed LLC.

According to the website of Kiev Region, the founder of Renart LLC Sergey Sumin is a partner of the owner of Fresenius Vladimir Podvornoy. At the same time, the company "Fresenius Medical Ker Ukraine" is one of the leading suppliers of products for hemodialysis of Ukraine for December 2018 and, in fact, is fighting the Gamba company owned by Nikolai Barishevsky.

According to the Anticor website, Fresenius announced itself as the official distributor of the German manufacturer Fresenius. However, this contradicts the available information that there is still no official representative of the German company in the country, Antikor reports with reference to Deputy Control.

The Deputy Control stated that Fresenius Medical Ker Ukraine distributes to trusted companies, for example, Renart LLC, TTV-dom LLC joint venture and others, warranty stamps as the official representative of the manufacturer Fresenius (Germany) in Ukraine. However, Fresenius Medical Ker Ukraine LLC is not a representative of a German company that does not have an official distributor, representative or dealer in our state at all. Fresenius is engaged only in the import of products for use in its own dialysis centers, Antikor writes.

In 2015, the Security Service of Ukraine investigated criminal proceedings against the Fresenius company, suspecting it of embezzlement of state funds on an especially large scale. According to the Nashi Groshi website, the company usually goes to auction with two controlled companies - Renart LLC and TTD-Dom, which artificially inflate prices, thus letting the company win. The same happens with other companies that are part of the Fresenius group. Nashi Groshi clarifies that the entire market of the Nikolaev region in the field of hemodialysis is controlled by the Fresenius group^[2]

As for the companies of the Gambra group, according to the online publication Nashi Groshi, at the beginning of 2015, the companies of this group have mastered at least 861 million UAH of state money for the entire time of their participation in tenders. So, the Gambramed company earned UAH 315 million on the execution of state contracts, UAH 249 million - Dialservice and UAH 297 million - Rumed.

Several times the company "Renart" (the group "Fresenius") entered the auction together with LLC "Link-Medital" - it was ranked on the website "Nashi Groshi" as a group of companies "Bakmed," which, in turn, monopolized the peritonial dialysis market. In such tenders, Renart LLC usually wins. It is noteworthy that according to May 2016, Link-Medital and Diavita, friendly Bakmed companies, controlled more than 90% of this market.^[3]

According to the "Deputy Control," monopolists inflate prices for the necessary supplies for patients and in many areas of Ukraine do not allow competitors to enter the market.^[4]. Meanwhile, according to the Glavkom website, Prime Minister Vladimir Groysman in 2016 promised to deal with monopolists who control the hemodialysis market throughout the country.

Cost of one procedure 250 hryvnia

One dialysis procedure in Ukraine in 2018 costs about 250 hryvnia. The patient does such procedures four times a day. Drugs for the patient cost about 365 thousand hryvnias a year. Given their high cost, the state pays for this treatment, spending about 250-270 million hryvnias a year on it^[5].

Notes