Physicians will be tried for helping people with prosthetics
The case of the “Belarusian doctors” was commented today by President Lukashenko. Against the background of the events taking place in the world, the mass detention of more than three dozen doctors throughout Belarus was in the shadows. However, as it turned out today, among the doctors accused of corruption was the attending physician of President Lukashenka, which added dubious associations to the case.
In fact, it all started back in 2018, when the KGB detained the director of the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Traumatology and Orthopedics Alexander Beletsky for bribes. During a search, about $500,000 was found in his hiding places. As stated in the indictment, the former director of the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Traumatology and Orthopedics was found guilty of illegal remuneration from a representative of the foreign enterprise Medisfera in the amount of 4,000 euros, as well as 3,000 US dollars from a representative of another Minsk company. According to the prosecution, the director of the Republican Scientific and Practical Center received this money for a favorable resolution of issues related to the conclusion of contracts for the supply and maintenance of medical equipment at the Republican Scientific and Practical Center. The court sentenced him to 7 years and 6 months in a penal colony with confiscation of property. Last summer, the academician was pardoned and released.
And in March of this year, a wave of detentions of orthopedic traumatologists swept across the country. And again, the matter turned out to be in the supply of imported components. Under the close scrutiny of the investigation were those heads of departments who dealt with suppliers of German endoprostheses. Moreover, law enforcement officers were only interested in purchases made on the basis of payment by patients. The fact is that in Belarus, prostheses are purchased by the state from campaigns on the basis of a competition, and patients who need prosthetics have to stand in line. Which today stretched out for several years. In addition, in some cases, people need individual prostheses, because those purchased in bulk may not suit them in a number of ways. “Patients awaiting surgery are looking for alternative options, and they are offered extraordinary endoprosthetics, but with the condition of purchasing a prosthesis for their own money, and you can purchase from a small list of options that are supplied to Belarus only by private firms,” experts explained the essence of the matter to the Belarusian newspaper “Nasha Niva”. The department heads reportedly suffered precisely because of the “interest” shown in the products of certain dealers.
Lukashenka himself explained the essence of the matter this way: “They didn’t just tell people lying on the operating table which imported orthopedic spare parts to insert into their bodies, but decently received bribes from foreigners for this. Some 300,000, 650,000 euros were found during searches only at home.” At the same time, the president asks the investigation not to be violent, but to send doctors to work in their specialty “in some structure,” after the Ministry of Health takes them on bail and they compensate for the damage to the state. According to Lukashenka, unfortunately, among the detainees was his attending physician, who repeatedly examined him. But “the law is the law, it is the same for everyone,” the president summed up.