In Odessa, a psychiatrist and a nurse were taken into custody for selling disability status

In Odesa, a psychiatrist and a nurse were caught accepting bribes to issue fake disability certificates to healthy men so they could travel abroad. The medical professionals face up to nine years in prison for a series of fabricated hospitalizations and the forgery of medical documents.

This was reported by the Main Police Department of the Odesa Region.

Currently, the detainees have been placed in pretrial detention with bail set at millions of hryvnias. The doctor faces 60 days in custody with the right to post bail of nearly five million hryvnias, while the nurse faces 60 days in custody with the right to post bail of nearly one million hryvnias.

According to law enforcement officials, the doctor led the criminal scheme. She coordinated hospitalizations, medical examinations, the preparation of medical documentation, the transfer of money, and the preparation of documents for submission to the expert panel. The nurse, meanwhile, sought out individuals interested in illegally leaving Ukraine, made arrangements with them, organized the issuance of referrals, received and transferred funds to her supervisor, and facilitated communication between her and the clients.

Law enforcement documented a case in which, in exchange for a monetary reward , medical staff promised a perfectly healthy Odessa resident that they would help him obtain a Group II disability classification. He was placed under psychiatric observation and admitted for inpatient treatment five times. In reality, however, he was never hospitalized and did not spend a single day in the hospital. 

After each fake hospitalization, the Odessa resident received discharge summaries. With these documents, following the doctor’s instructions, he applied to the commission for assessing a person’s daily functioning, and as a result of this evaluation, he was granted a Group II disability status.

For this, the suspect received more than $2,000 and nearly 58,000 hryvnias.

Earlier in Odesa, a man attempted to have his mobilization order overturned in court, claiming that he had not undergone a military medical examination. However, the registry listed him as fit for service. 

Юлія Калабайда