Odesa doctor fined for bribery

In Odesa, a family doctor was fined for promising to arrange fictitious inpatient treatment in a city hospital for a reward. Despite the proven fact of bribery, the doctor got off with a fine.

This was reported by Anti-Corruption Dimension.

The court found Oleksandr Kostritsa, a doctor at outpatient clinic No. 2 of the Odesa City Council's Central Primary Healthcare Center No. 3, guilty of extortion and bribery for influencing the staff of hospital No. 11. He was fined UAH 34 thousand.

According to the verdict, on December 6, 2024, the doctor in his office on Fontanska Road offered the patient help with paperwork for alleged inpatient treatment at Hospital No. 11 without actual hospitalization. The patient planned to submit these documents to the medical and social expert commission. The doctor demanded $600 for the service.

Later, the doctor received the full amount from the patient. The court noted that the doctor acted out of selfish motives, realizing the illegality of his actions and seeking to enrich himself illegally.

During the trial, the doctor pleaded guilty, did not deny the facts of the case, refused to examine other evidence and expressed remorse. The investigation seized the phones and medical documents, but the court returned most of the items to their owners, leaving only the iPhone used in the crime under arrest and confiscating it in favor of the state.

The court took into account that Kostritsa has no previous convictions, has a second-grade disability and is raising two young children, so it did not impose an additional punishment in the form of a ban on work. The doctor will continue to work as a family doctor, and the fine of 34 thousand hryvnias was the only punishment for the bribe.

Earlier, Odesa security forces exposed and detained a doctor who agreed to "resolve the issue" of a conscript's deferral from mobilization for $7,000 by falsifying his mother's health information. According to the investigation, the doctor from a private clinic offered to create a fictitious diagnosis that would allegedly require constant care. Such a scheme would allow her son to apply for a deferment of service as a person caring for an incapacitated relative.

Анна Бальчінос