Kuzminykh and medicine: what is a person with an engineering degree and a case from NABU doing in the Verkhovna Rada's pharmaceutical subcommittee?

The person responsible for pharmacy legislation has no medical education. Instead, they are suspected in a bribery case. This refers to Serhiy Kuzminykh, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Activity, who is a Member of Parliament. By education, the scandalous MP is a systems engineer. He received his higher education at the Zhytomyr Military Institute named after S. P. Korolev.

However, the lack of medical education does not prevent Kuzminykh from developing laws that directly affect the life and health of Ukrainians. Such a political appointment in the Verkhovna Rada is a deep systemic ailment. In European countries, such a practice is complete nonsense. This opinion was expressed in a comment to UNN by political scientist Serhiy Shabovta.

The fact that the heads of Verkhovna Rada committees lack knowledge and specialized education, and therefore make decisions regarding Ukrainian legislation blindly, is simply horrifying. I don't know of any European country where such a practice exists, or where the legislative process is treated with such disregard.

According to the political scientist, Ukrainians have every right to demand professionalism from the legislative branch of power. After all, such appointments pursue exclusively political goals and objectives, not professional decisions that the system requires.

Let's add

In European Union countries, appointments to committees dealing with healthcare issues are based on professional education and relevant experience. Such committees typically employ specialists with a medical or pharmaceutical background — this is considered an essential condition for effective policy development in the sensitive area of healthcare.

For example, members of the European Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI):

Peter Liese – a doctor, one of the most influential in the field of healthcare, rapporteur on many initiatives regarding vaccines and pandemics;

Andreas Glück — a surgeon who practiced before being elected to parliament;

Tudor Ciuhodaru — a neuropsychiatrist, practicing doctor, lecturer at a medical university in Romania. Actively promotes access to medical services in Eastern Europe;

Rasa Juknevičienė — a pediatrician, actively supports the integration of medical policy with security issues;

Andraš Kúgya — a surgeon, actively engaged in issues of trans-European medical data and regulation of digital medicine.

In Ukraine, however, the decisions of non-specialist MPs in the healthcare sector are felt by millions of Ukrainians, who have to overpay for medicines or go without the necessary treatment altogether. After all, who better than systems engineer Kuzminykh, with experience discussing "kickbacks" in medical institutions, knows how to manage Ukrainian pharmacy?

Recall

Back in 2022, more than three years ago, NABU caught Kuzminykh "red-handed" — the MP received over half a million hryvnias in bribes for facilitating the signing of contracts for the supply of medical equipment to a hospital in the Zhytomyr region.

That is, the person who is now making crucial decisions for the pharmaceutical market previously received money for influencing that same market. Professional evolution, so to speak.

But that's not all. After being served with a notice of suspicion, Kuzminykh began to avoid court and journalists. He would get sick, then disappear, then "confuse subpoenas." Once, he even tried to throw documents out of a car, as media reported.

Despite such a stunning background, it was Kuzminykh who became the main architect of changes in pharmaceutical legislation. For example, he recently supported a resolution banning pharmacy marketing, which did not produce the expected result. Drug prices were supposed to decrease — instead, they increased. This was stated by the Minister of Health of Ukraine Viktor Liashko, as reported by UNN. According to him, in April, inflation in the pharmaceutical market reached 13.9%.

The increase in drug prices instead of a decrease is also being discussed by the Charitable Foundation "Patients of Ukraine". According to the head of the foundation, Inna Ivanenko, patients do not yet feel a significant improvement in the cost or availability of medicines. Over the past three months, there has been no noticeable decrease in drug prices.

Furthermore, according to UNN monitoring, the largest price increase was observed for foreign-produced drugs. For example, one of the most popular drugs for patients with arterial hypertension - "Betaloc" (AstraZeneca AB, Sweden) - increased in price by an average of 26 hryvnias; "Glucophage XR" (Merck Santé, France) - increased by approximately 43 hryvnias; "Synjardy" (Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG, Germany) - increased by 103 UAH.

Thus, the consequences of unprofessional decisions are felt by millions of Ukrainians, who are forced to overpay for medicines or even go without the necessary treatment. And all this is thanks to the Verkhovna Rada's decision to delegate the leadership of the pharmaceutical subcommittee to a person who has no specialized education but has a case from NABU. After all, who better than a systems engineer with experience discussing "kickbacks" in medical institutions knows how to manage Ukrainian pharmacy?