Fresenius Medical Ker Ukraine

Main article: Fresenius Medical Care (Fresenius Medical Kea)

2021: Court refusal to compensate for hemodialysis services rendered

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

The court refused Fresenius Medical Ker Ukraine to pay compensation for hemodialysis services
Photo source: kabar.kg

Fresenius Medical Ker Ukraine LLC expresses concern about possible pressure from the local MEDIA and of state authorities implemented on the courts that are considering cases of payment for hemodialysis services for patients with chronic kidney disease stage V, the company said in a statement, the text of which is available to the agency "-Interfax Ukraina."

However, in 2021, for the first time, the court did not take into account the specifics of the hemodialysis procedure and refused to compensate for the funds for the actually provided medical services of hemodialysis. The latest confirmation that the courts are probably under pressure is the satisfaction at the end of August 2021 of the appeal of the prosecutor, who did not participate in the case of the payment of Fresenius compensation in the amount of UAH 14.7 million for hemodialysis treatment, the company said in a statement.

A patient with such a diagnosis is forced to undergo a blood purification process for life using an artificial kidney apparatus three times a week for four hours in specialized medical centers. Without regular hemodialysis, a person with renal failure dies, the company reminds.

Fresenius Medical Ker Ukraine clarified that the company is forced to defend in the courts the possibility of receiving compensation from the budget for the actually provided hemodialysis services for 10 years. In particular, we are talking about hemodialysis services in the Frezenius dialysis centers in Chernigov and Cherkassy "even when contracts for the provision of medical services were not renewed, extended and/or concluded with the company."

Fresenius, as a subsidiary of a representative for the production of products and the provision of services for people with renal failure, could not stop treating patients who at that time had no alternative to receiving hemodialysis in other clinics in Chernigov and Cherkassy, because this would have lethal consequences for them. We could not deny patients a vital procedure and reported it to local authorities and the patients themselves. Therefore, they continued to provide services: all patients received and receive dialysis treatment for free, the company emphasizes.

The company reminds that in 2018 the company received a decision of the Supreme Court, which ordered the authorities authorized by the state to pay Fresenius as the provider of medical hemodialysis services for their cost at the expense of budget funds, regardless of whether purchases were made or an agreement was signed.

Annual special subventions did not reach Fresenius Medical Ker Ukraine, since local managers of funds could not determine how to carry out the procurement procedure, therefore, for many years, all claims of the company for reimbursement of funds for treated patients were satisfied on the basis of the decision of the Supreme Court on the specifics of dialysis services, which the state could not order. However, in 2021, when considering another similar case, which, according to the principle of uniformity and predictability of court decisions, should have ended in favor of Fresenius Medical Ker Ukraine, the judges of the Supreme Court began to exercise informational and, probably, administrative pressure, the company believes.

Fresenius Medical Ker Ukraine recalled that according to to data the National Register, published in 2020, chronic terminal kidney disease (V) stages were diagnosed in To Ukraine 12 thousand people, but only about half of them received renal replacement therapy by hemodialysis due to the lack of a sufficient number of dialysis places in medical institutions "^[1]

2017: Stopping the creation of 10 hemodialysis centers

In December 2017, Fresenius Medical Ker called on the Ukrainian authorities to cooperate, saying that the company is ready to help improve the quality of hemodialysis services in the country by opening new dialysis centers.

We have two dialysis centers in Ukraine. Now hemodialysis there is received for free 170 patients, and this is very little. We are able to provide replacement therapy to a much larger number of patients, "Yuriy ^[2], a representative of the global office of Fresenius Medical Ker, senior manager of the company for regional management in Eastern Europe, told Interfax-Ukraine. ^[2]

"If the institution for hemodialysis was not chosen by doctors, but by the patients themselves, they would make a choice in favor of a high quality of services. Thus, more patients would have access to replacement therapy. We would very much like to show what benefits for patients and the state will bring a change in the financing model of medical institutions to the model of payment for hemodialysis services and develop a public-private partnership in Ukraine so that Ukrainian patients receive the same quality of medical services that patients receive all over the world - no worse than in Japan or Germany, "he

Yu. Kremer recalled that Fresenius suspended the development of a project to create 10 hemodialysis centers in Ukraine. One reason is that patients refuse to be referred to the company's dialysis centers and referred to overcrowded hemodialysis units at public hospitals. Thus, the financing of the hemodialysis procedure remained in the budget clinic, and the possibilities of Fresenius to receive payment for the patients treated by him from the state budget under the public-private partnership system are limited.

At the same time, he emphasized the readiness of Fresenius Medical Ker to continue the development of a project to create a network of clinics in the country, despite the fact that at that time it was unprofitable for the company. Such a decision can be made subject to the adoption of regulations guaranteeing the changes declared in the draft medical reform - payment for medical services and the patient's free choice of a healthcare institution.

At this time, hemodialysis in Ukraine receives about 6 thousand patients, which is 25% of all those in need. In general, 125 patients per 1 million of the population receive hemodialysis in the country, 285 in Belarus, 456 in Poland, and 950 in Germany.

According to international treatment standards, each patient needs at least 156 hemodialysis procedures per year.

2016: SBU accuses the company of embezzlement, embezzlement and possession of other people's property

In 2016, Fresenius Medical Ker Ukraine, one of the leading suppliers of hemodialysis products in Ukraine, was at the center of a high-profile scandal. The Security Service of Ukraine accused this company of "embezzlement, embezzlement and seizure of other people's property by abuse of official powers on an especially large scale."

According to the investigation, Fresenius Medical Ker Ukraine participates in tenders through controlled structures - LLC Renart"" and LLC "TTV-Dom." One of them, as a rule, offers the price of its products a little lower, the other - higher, thereby creating the appearance of a transparent competition in which the victory goes to the company that put a more acceptable price.

At the same time, Fresenius Medical Ker Ukraine calls itself a representative of the German Fresenius, although it is not.^[3]

2009: Launch of a partnership between Fresenius Medical Care and Ukraine to open dialysis medical centers

In 2009, the foreign investor Fresenius Medical Ker, with the assistance of the state, launched an international partnership project to help patients with stage V chronic kidney disease, within the framework of which dialysis medical centers were opened in Chernigov and Cherkasy.

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