Eskulab Group of Companies, which manages the Eskulab medical laboratory chain (First Social Medical Laboratory (FSML) Eskulab and Eskulab Center LLC), has announced the risks of stopping the network’s operation due to an attempted raider seizure.
In an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine, the network’s founder, Serhiy Dyadyushko, said that the network’s work is currently blocked due to the actions of its two co-founders, Stanislav Lugovskyi and Denys Melnyk.
According to Dyadyushko, the network’s commercial director, Roman Vysotsky, who represents Melnyk, has blocked the financial operations of Aesculab, and as a result, the network cannot purchase reagents for analysis, nor pay salaries to nearly 1,200 employees.
“Now we are short of reagents, we need to purchase them, people are not paid salaries. Payments have been suspended, which prevents the company from continuing to operate. I have already invested about UAH 5 million of my own money, but today I have already exhausted my resources. The entire network across Ukraine will stop working,” he said.
Dyadyushko clarified that the conflict between the co-founders arose in 2023, when Luhovskyi and Melnyk tried to re-register Dyadyushko’s share and remove him from the chain’s management. At the same time, the co-founders agreed to create a management board consisting of representatives of each of the co-founders.
“Thus, Vysotsky blocked financial operations at the end of March,” Dyadyushko said.
Dyadyushko has now turned to Ukrainian law enforcement agencies.
Melnyk, on the other hand, denies the allegations.
Eskulab Medical Laboratory is one of the three largest private laboratories in Ukraine, contracted by the National Health Service of Ukraine (NHSU). The network consists of five laboratory centers and 180 sample collection points in the western regions of Ukraine and Kyiv.
In 2023, Eskulab paid UAH 33.8 million in taxes, including UAH 14.97 million in unified social tax, UAH 1.33 million in military duty, and UAH 14.034 million in personal income tax. The company is among the ten largest taxpayers in Lviv region.
The co-founders of PE “PSML “Eskulab” are Dyadyushko, who owns 43% of the company, Luhovskyi (43%) and Melnyk (14%). The co-founders of Eskulab Center LLC are Dyadyushko, Luhovskyi and Melnyk, who each own 20% of the company, and Ruslana Soltani, who owns 40%.
