A court fined a doctor from the Mykolaiv region for accepting a bribe from a soldier

In the Mykolaiv region, a member of a military medical commission who demanded a bribe from a servicemember was found guilty. He was sentenced to a fine of 17,000 hryvnias and barred from serving on the military medical commission for one year.

This is stated in the verdict of the Berezan District Court of Mykolaiv Oblast.

In court, the man fully admitted his guilt. He explained that he took the money to help compile a package of documents for the commission. At the same time, he claimed that the commission chair makes the decisions and that the outcome would have been the same even without the money.

The convicted man works as an orthopedic surgeon and traumatologist at the Berezan Central District Hospital. He was a member of the military medical commission operating at the hospital. 

According to the case file, in March 2026, a senior soldier who had been wounded while on duty came to see him. The soldier had previously been deemed unfit for service, with a review scheduled for six months later. He arrived with a referral for an MRI, which was required for his re-examination by the commission. During the consultation, the doctor stated that a fee of up to $1,000 would be required to facilitate his re-examination by the commission and secure a determination of unfitness for service, resulting in his removal from military registration.

The case file indicates that when the patient later asked for the exact amount, the doctor showed him a piece of paper with “$300” written on it, and in April, he quoted the amount in hryvnias: 13,000. The doctor received the money on May 6 in the hospital’s residents’ office. He was detained that same day.
 

Юлія Калабайда