Tyukalov Oleg Viktorovich

Tyukalov Oleg Viktorovich

Biography

2024: Sentence - 8 years for medication substitution

On July 18, 2024, the Semenovsky District Court of the Nizhny Novgorod Region sentenced Oleg Tyukalov, the former head of the oncological department of the Central District Hospital (CRH) of the city of Semenov. The ex-head of the cancer center was sentenced to four years in prison in a general regime colony for abuse of office. In addition, the court deprived Tyukalov of the right to engage in medical activities for a period of two years.

According to Kommersant, the investigation established that in the period from January 2022 to July 2023, Oleg Tyukalov instructed nurses to inject saline solution to patients instead of the expensive antitumor drugs Kitruda and Opdivo. The cost of one package of Kitruda reaches ₽200 thousand, and Opdivo - ₽40 thousand.

The prosecutor's office claims that in this way an oncologist with 34 years of experience tried to hide the shortage of medicines and improve the performance of the department. An audit conducted by employees of the territorial compulsory health insurance fund (compulsory medical insurance) revealed that the consumption of drugs in the hospital was twice the volume of supplies.

Oleg Tyukalov pleaded not guilty to abuse of office. He insisted that the nurses made their own decision on the substitution of drugs. In particular, the defendant claimed that nurse Maria Kuzmina replaced expensive drugs with saline during his vacation. However, another nurse, Svetlana Kerzhenskaya, told investigators that the order to replace the drugs came directly from Tyukalov.

The defense of the accused tried to convince the court that the doctor did not have a motive for stealing drugs, since they are provided to patients for free and cannot be sold on the black market. Lawyers also noted that Tyukalov did not have the authority to prescribe treatment - this was done by a consultation of specialists from the regional cancer center.

Despite the arguments of the defense, the court found the arguments of the investigation convincing. The state prosecutor initially demanded eight years in prison for the defendant with a ban on medical practice, but the court imposed a milder punishment.

In the last word, Oleg Tyukalov expressed regret about what happened, admitting negligence in controlling the work of nurses.^[1]

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