““Trakhtibidokh”, forensics and analytics since 2018: a master class in reforming the pharmaceutical market from the National Academy of Legal Sciences of UkraineA “national consultation” on the pharmaceutical market without pharmacists was held in Kyiv. The decisions were prepared in
advance.”, — write: unn.ua
Short PreviewThe so-called “national consultation” on ensuring the quality and availability of medicines for patients took place in Kyiv on Wednesday. Responsibility for organizing this event was not taken by any of the participants for a long time, but later it was shared by scientific institutions that have nothing to do with the pharmaceutical market – the Research Institute of Intellectual Property and the Research Institute for the Study of Crime Problems named after Academician V.V. Stashys.
Several highly respected experts in the field of intellectual property and criminalistics, together with representatives of public organizations, including those representing drug manufacturers, decided to discuss the fate of pharmacies and “develop” a roadmap for changes to legislation in the field of pharmacy activities.
It is interesting that there was no representative of pharmacies or pharmacy associations at this event, nor was the Deputy Minister of Health Edem Adamanov, who was declared to participate. Of those who are at least somewhat related to the topic of the pharmaceutical retail market, there was perhaps only Serhiy Kuzminykh, a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Health, accused of bribery.
It should be noted that NABU accuses Kuzminykh of receiving a bribe of UAH 558,000 for assisting in concluding contracts between private companies and a hospital in the Zhytomyr region. That is, according to the investigation, the People’s Deputy already has some experience in defending the interests of market players.
The investigation is conducted by moderatorsAt the beginning of this clown show with a taste of money, the moderator from NAPS of Ukraine, Natalia Hutorova, read out an appeal from a People’s Deputy of Ukraine to the participants, stating that the public doubts whether the topic of the event corresponds to the expert knowledge of the declared speakers.
The organizer tried to justify herself, but her argument was incomprehensible, and this is not surprising, since, for example, there is no mention of the pharmaceutical market or the healthcare sector in Ukraine in Hutorova’s official biography. Her scientific works focus on such topics as “Committing a crime by an organized group of persons” and “Problems of criminal law protection of state finances of Ukraine.” Although these issues may have general similarities with management problems, it should be noted that they have nothing to do with the pharmaceutical field. Perhaps it was the experience of studying crimes committed by organized groups that helped the organizers in conducting the national consultation?
By the way, Hutorova herself emphasized several times during the so-called “consultations” that she used to be an investigator in the police.
Semi-naked women and a squirrelThe organizers responsibly entrusted the analysis of European experience on the declared topic to Professor Vitaliy Pashkov, who in 2018 was the author of a bill to ban pharmacy chains. That is, his “love” for pharmacies has been going on for over 7 years and, obviously, as a true fan of his work, the professor has been carefully filling his home archive with advertising videos of pharmacy chains for years. Only he seems to forget to update it with fresh materials. Pashkov got stuck in 2013-2018 in his presentation, and since most of the analytical information concerned a period of about ten years ago, it does not seem possible to talk about the relevance of the information he published. The author somehow forgot that the country has been in a full-scale war for more than three years and the working conditions of the pharmaceutical market have, to put it mildly, changed.
The highlight of Pashkov’s report was creative advertising videos about “trakhtibidokha” and “squirrel”, which were shown on television in the same 2018. The professor noted that he personally knows who, where, how and when filmed such content, which obviously resonates very much with the topic of the speech on European experience in regulating pharmacy activities.
It is worth noting that his speech boiled down to the fact that pharmacies should be exclusively a family business, which also looks a bit strange in today’s realities.
No less “meaningful” was the report of Dmytro Sherembey, who was convicted three times for theft, who still positioned himself as a public figure, a defender of the rights of patients with tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, and is now actively interested in the work of pharmacies.
It is interesting that now the needs for drug provision of patients with HIV infection/AIDS are fully covered by the Medical Guarantee Program under the medical care package “Diagnosis, treatment and support of people with HIV infection.” Why Dmytro Sherembey’s interests suddenly switched to pharmacies and what was the purpose of his participation in the “consultation” is not exactly known.
It is nice that People’s Deputy Serhiy Kuzminykh was able to join this extraordinary event. He was able to postpone all other relevant work issues, including the bribery charges brought against him by law enforcement agencies, and focus on discussing marketing agreements in the field of pharmaceuticals.
By the way, the issue of regulating marketing in the pharmaceutical market is currently being dealt with by a working group headed by Deputy Head of the Office of the President Iryna Vereshchuk. Despite this, the red thread of the meeting of the distinguished community was one single thesis – the prohibition of marketing. Is this the basis for ensuring the quality and availability of medicines for patients? There are more questions than answers after the national consultation.
Sleight of hand and no fraudAnd then an interesting final part took place. Watch your hands:
Step 1: None of the speakers expressed any thesis during the speech, for which the participants eventually voted to include in the resolution.
Step 2: The main ideas for the resolution, which completely concerned the activities of pharmacies, were dictated by Kostyantyn Vashchenko, Director of Government Affairs at PrJSC Pharmaceutical Firm Darnitsa, who was present at the event. So, in fact, the decisions that were made were prepared in advance by Darnitsa.
Step 3: 12 out of more than 20 declared participants of the consultation voted for the adoption of the obviously pre-prepared provisions of the resolution.
Most likely, the next step will be to present this document to the public as legitimate and try to give it some weight.
The text of the document, “developed” during the event, which looked more like a farce than a consultation, was decided to be finalized behind closed doors. And it has already been published, and the media loyal to some pharmaceutical manufacturers present this document as the result of the Government’s work together with the public. I wonder if Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal knows that the Government organized such a farce?
In addition, I would like to hope that not the entire system of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine adheres to such standards of professional activity. But in this particular case, it seems that probably, scientists who are respected in their fields, decided to play along with someone who wanted to hide behind their names to promote their own interests. The presence of only one drug manufacturer – the Darnitsa plant – at the event leads to this conclusion. And when the “banquet is paid for”, then what difference does it make whether you are a specialist in criminal law or pharmaceutical law?