Doctors and pharmaceutical manufacturers demand to strengthen the fight against illegitimate advertising of fake medicines on the Internet using well-known brands and faces of leading experts in the medical industry.
As Doctor of Medical Sciences, Director of the Heart Institute of the Ministry of Health Borys Todurov emphasized at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday, fraudulent advertising on the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market can claim hundreds and thousands of lives. As an example of this, he cited the fact that, in particular, fake drugs are often advertised on the Internet in his name.
“On the Internet, on Facebook, drugs are offered in my name that we allegedly develop. Don’t believe that this is so – we do not take part in the development of new drugs. We perform operations, we only engage in surgery,” he said.
Todurov noted that every day he responds to many messages regarding fake drugs that he is allegedly developing, and there are “dozens” of such drugs. One of the latest such fake drugs that is sold online in his name is Normocardis.
Todurov noted that he had already contacted law enforcement agencies with statements about precedents, and that the cyber police had already opened a criminal case into the use of his name and the names of his colleagues.
“It is very difficult to track such scammers, they are often located abroad. But I think that it is possible to find and catch at least those people who distribute fake drugs in Ukraine – they have telephone numbers, a specific address, they can be tracked,” the director of the Heart Institute said.
Todurov noted that advertisements for fake drugs are often created using artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, which make it possible to create believable videos using the images and voices of specific famous doctors.
In turn, Honored Doctor of Ukraine, director and founder of the medical center Clinic of Dr. Valikhnovsky Rostyslav Valikhnovsky said that on his behalf there were recorded cases of distribution of at least eight drugs and dietary supplements that supposedly treat joints, varicose veins, heart, and rheumatic diseases.
“This has absolutely nothing to do with reality. I want to put it on record that this is not true and our brand has nothing to do with these drugs,” he said.
Valikhnovsky noted that the clinic also contacted the cyber police in Kyiv, and law enforcement agencies managed to block sites that posted such information in one day. However, he noted that it was not possible to solve this problem with Facebook.
“With Facebook it is very difficult to solve this problem during the war, so with this press conference I would like to appeal to the Minister of the Interior, the Prosecutor General, so that they take this problem under personal control,” he said.
Valikhnovsky noted that “if nothing is done now at the beginning of the development of AI, then later we will not be able to correct anything.”
At the same time, he emphasized that clinics and doctors without law enforcement agencies cannot independently identify fraudsters and fight them.
For his part, head of the Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers of Ukraine Petro Bahriy clarified that in war conditions it is quite difficult to estimate the volume of the market for such fake drugs, including due to the ban on inspections.
“We cannot accurately estimate the volume of such a market, especially during the war. But we are interested in the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market being transparent, so that the promotion of medicines is legal, because we know about the responsibility for people’s health,” he said.
Bahriy noted that the Association was one of the initiators of introducing criminal liability for false advertising and the production and distribution of fake drugs.
“I support my colleagues and appeal to law enforcement agencies and everyone who can help overcome this shameful phenomenon and stop these scammers who today, using well-known brands of doctors, promote in their name fake drugs that harm health and even kill,” he said.
Bahriy also emphasized that leading domestic pharmaceutical companies are constantly developing R&D, developing new drugs according to international standards of evidence-based effectiveness, safety and quality, investing significant funds in this area.
“Fake drugs sold online in this way harm people’s health, but also harm the economy, because fraudsters, unlike pharmaceutical manufacturers, do not pay taxes, do not create jobs, and do not invest in the development of their brand and the country’s economy. The business of these scammers harms everyone, and law enforcement officials must solve this problem,” he concluded.
ADVERTISING, BAHRIY, BRAND, DOCTORS, FAKE, MEDICINES, PHARMACISTS, Valikhnovsky, Тодуров
The total number of medical personnel – doctors, nurses and paramedics in Ukraine in 2022 decreased by 14% compared to 2021, according to the results of research “Medicine during the war: the influence of a full-scale invasion of Russia on the health care system of Ukraine”, the Ukrainian Center for Healthcare (UCH).
According to them, the number of nursing staff decreased the most, which decreased by 16.5% compared to prewar levels.
“It is expected that the number of medical personnel decreased in regions where active hostilities are taking place or in the temporarily occupied territories of the Russian Federation,” the UCH press release said.
At the same time, it is noted that against the background of the reduction in the number of medical personnel in the frontline and de-occupied territories there was no noticeable influx of medical workers in the rear regions, except in Poltava region, where the number of doctors slightly increased.
“Such trends may indicate the scale of migration of medics abroad,” the UCH indicated.
At the same time, citing the Polish Ministry of Health’s response to UCH’s inquiry about the number of medics who received specialty work permits in Poland in 2022, the center cites data that as of late February 2023, just over 2,300 doctors and over 1,060 nurses and nurse aides were employed there, with nearly 1.8 million Ukrainian refugees registered in Poland, according to official figures.
“Since Poland has taken in the largest number of Ukrainians, it is expected that the flow of medics will match a similar scale. But less than 1% of the pre-war number of Ukrainian medics were employed in Poland,” the UCH states.
It is specified that the analysis was conducted using data from the National Health Service of Ukraine (NHSU), which takes into account only those medics who worked in contracted with it medical institutions.
Janitors, nurses, plumbers, electricians, sales assistants, doctors, teachers and pharmacists are most in demand among employers in Kyiv, the Kyiv City Employment Center reports.
“Since the beginning of 2022, some 23,500 people have applied to the Kyiv City Employment Center for services. As of June 2, 14,400 unemployed are registered with the capital’s employment service (last year there were 16,200 on this date),” the information department of the Kyiv City Employment Center said in a statement.
It is noted that with the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia, the labor market of Kyiv has undergone changes, in particular, a significant number of employees of enterprises and organizations of the city were evacuated to the western regions of Ukraine and abroad or were mobilized into units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and territorial defense, and many other residents moved to the capital, mainly from eastern regions.
So, as of June 2, there were 1,500 vacancies in the base of the capital’s employment service, and in general since the beginning of the year there were 15,400.
“Today, the most in demand among employers in Kyiv are janitors, nurses, plumbers, electricians for the repair and maintenance of electrical equipment, sales consultants, doctors, teachers, pharmacists,” the report says.
It is noted that the most paid vacancies are the professions of computer software engineer (UAH 110,000), computer software development specialist (UAH 110,000), software engineer (UAH 55,000), paramedic (UAH 32,000), head manager of the division (UAH 29,000), head of the financial department (UAH 23,000) and quality control manager (UAH 23,000).
DOCTORS, ELECTRICIANS, JANITORS, KYIV, NURSES, PHARMACISTS, PLUMBERS, SALES ASSISTANTS, TEACHERS
On Friday, April 15, 24 vehicles for firefighters and doctors, as well as 50 tons of emergency equipment, will arrive in Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron said.
“In support of Ukraine, our firefighters and rescuers will deliver tomorrow 24 fire engines and ambulances, as well as 50 tons of emergency equipment. This is the second convoy in a month. To our agents, communities, companies and citizens who contribute: thank you,” the President wrote on his Twitter on the night of Thursday to Friday.
Doctors from the Adonis medical group have performed a unique operation to form a neovagina for a foreign patient.
The clinic told Interfax-Ukraine the foreign patient came to the medical center with a congenital malformation of the intestines and pelvic organs.
Before contacting the Adonis medical group for an operation to create a neovagina, the patient underwent about ten reconstructive surgeries in various clinics of the countries of the former USSR, where, as a result, by a council of leading medical centers, she was denied an operation to form a neovagina. In addition, among the 13 clinics in Turkey, to which the patient applied, only one agreed to consider the possibility of such an operation.
“The complexity of the operation was the extremely high risk of injury to the intestines and urinary tract during the operation, as well as the possibility of lining the neovaginal tunnel with the patient’s own tissues. At the same time, after weighing all the risks, we successfully performed the operation,” the leading specialist in laparoscopic and minimally invasive interventions at Adonis, gynecologist-surgeon Dmytro Nikolayev said.
Currently, the patient has been discharged and has flown to her homeland.
Adonis is a network of private full-cycle medical centers for adults and children.
The private clinic Adonis was founded over 20 years ago. The network includes 11 branches in Kyiv and the region, including two of its own maternity hospitals and a stem cell laboratory. The clinic has 66 medical specialties.
The Level I Intensive Care Hospital and the Primary Health Care Center in Horishni Plavni has received two Renault Master ambulances – another consignment of aid from Ferrexpo mining company, whose main production assets are located in this city.
“The total cost of the vehicles is about UAH 3 million. This delivery was carried out as part of the large Ferrexpo assistance program to combat COVID-19,” the company said in a press release.
Mayor of the city Dmytro Bykov thanked for the systematic support provided by the Ferrexpo mining and processing plants (GOK).
“Unfortunately, the statistics of COVID-19 cases are not encouraging with good news, the situation is also complicated by seasonal outbreaks of other viral diseases. We do not stop assistance programs, studying the needs and systematically transferring the necessary equipment, transport, medicines and protective equipment to hospitals,” the director of the charitable foundation of Poltava GOK, Viacheslav Miniazev, said.
In March of this year, the Ferrexpo board of directors decided that the group’s enterprises, including Poltava, Yeristovo and Belanovo GOKs, will allocate $ 2.5 million in assistance to medical institutions to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in Poltava region, as well as within the framework of national programs throughout the territory Ukraine. It was noted that, first of all, the money will be used for the purchase of artificial lung ventilation devices, test systems for detecting coronavirus and other necessary equipment, and further distribution of assistance will be carried out in accordance with the priority needs of medical institutions.
Ferrexpo is an iron ore company with assets in Ukraine. The London Stock Exchange (LSE) trades the shares of British-based Ferrexpo plc, which owns 100% of the shares of Swiss-based Ferrexpo AG, which, in turn, holds a 100% stake in Poltava GOK, 100% of Yeristovo GOK and 99.9% of Belanovo GOK. Kostiantyn Zhevaho via Fevamotinico S.a.r.l. owns 50.3% of Ferrexpo shares.
