The general director of “Okhmatdyt” was suspended for the duration of inspections regarding the reconstruction of the hospital

The general director of the "Okhmatdyt" hospital, Volodymyr Zhovnir, was suspended from performing his duties until the inspections regarding the reconstruction of the hospital are completed.

This was announced by the head of the Ministry of Health Viktor Lyashko.

The National Police of Ukraine and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine are investigating the facts related to the restoration of "Okhmatdyt" and the actions of the "Okhmatdyt Charitable Fund" — a registered criminal proceeding. An internal inspection of the Ministry of Health is also taking place.

"All the circumstances must be established. All the guilty should be punished. The hospital should be rebuilt. Everything should happen clearly, transparently, quickly and in accordance with the legislation," Lyashko stressed.

The day before, Lyashko received the first results of the inspection of the commission of the Ministry of Health. She witnessed cases of distortion of "key information", which is officially submitted to the department, in the media and distributed in documents by the hospital management and the foundation itself.

In particular, during the tender for the reconstruction of the hospital, the working group of "Okhmatdyta" and the general meeting of the fund were involved to evaluate the proposals, which included, in particular, presenters Yuriy Gorbunov and Solomiya Vitvitska.

The general meeting of the fund on July 31 made a recommendation to conclude a contract for the repair of "Okhmatdyt" with the company "Bud-Technology", which offered its services for 307 million hryvnias. The soldier announced this company as the winner of the tender, however, recommendations on the selection of the winner from the working group of the hospital were not received.

"Why? This issue remains open, it will be investigated by the competent authorities," said Lyashko.

The head of the Ministry of Health noted that Zhovnir offered to collect money for the reconstruction of the hospital at the expense of the "Okhmatdit" charity fund, referring to the successful experience of cooperation earlier.

The further restoration of the Ohmatdyt Hospital will take place under the supervision of the Restoration Council, which will monitor the hospitalʼs reconstruction processes and ensure public participation.

"We will inform you about further decisions, in particular about personnel. My position is that the person performing the duties should be a person from among the department heads who will receive the greatest support from colleagues. Now I am holding consultations," said Lyashko.

What preceded

"Okhmatdyt" is the largest childrenʼs hospital in Ukraine, where more than 20 thousand children are treated every year. On July 8, 2024, a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile completely destroyed the toxicology building and damaged four more. 10 surgical departments, five oncology departments and two somatic departments, intensive care, two intensive care units, operating units, radiology and radiation therapy departments, part of the oncology and hematology laboratory (the only one in the country) were affected.

On July 31, "Okhmatdyt" announced the winner of the competition for the repair of the hospital was the "Bud-Technology" company, which offered its services for 307 million hryvnias. Journalists of the "Our Money" project say that this is one of the most expensive proposals, and dozens of companies offered to perform the work much cheaper. After publicity in the media , they decided to hold the tender again. Also , the related tenders for engineering consulting services and technical supervision of repairs for more than 14 million hryvnias will be canceled.

On August 16, the already suspended general director of "Okhmatdyt" Volodymyr Zhovnir stated that the charitable foundation "Okhmatdyt — healthy childhood", which received donations for the restoration of the hospital after the Russian attack on July 8, "does not plan" to transfer the collected funds to the hospitalʼs official accounts.

The fund explained that they currently do not know the legal mechanism for the transfer. However, they are ready to pay for any urgent need of the hospital — medical equipment or restoration of buildings damaged by the Russian attack, but official requests from "Okhmatdyt" were allegedly not received.