Video: Systematic Extortion of Money from Doctors Exposed at a Kyiv Medical Facility
Under the procedural supervision of the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office, two department heads and the medical director of one of the capital’s municipal hospitals were notified that they were suspected of extorting money from doctors.
According to the preliminary investigation, in early January 2026, the suspects organized a scheme to systematically extort and receive money from doctors. In exchange for the money, they were promised the opportunity to perform surgical procedures and receive a deferment from military mobilization.
Thus, surgeons, orthopedists, traumatologists, and doctors of other specialties were required to bring money to the department head every Friday for each surgery or other medical procedures performed on patients. Each operation was valued at 1,000 hryvnias. Surgeons who refused to pay the money to the department leadership were threatened with being barred from performing surgeries, having their surgery slots canceled, and being transferred to so-called “paperwork” duties.
All the doctors handed over the money to one of the suspected department heads, who acted as the so-called “cashier”—collecting the “take,” keeping track of the amounts, and passing a portion of the money on to the head of the department.
The department head, who was directly involved in collecting the money, kept lists of all surgeries performed by each doctor and carefully calculated how much money each of them had to turn over to the so-called “slush fund” each week, and he himself specified this amount. At the same time, no one cared where the doctor was supposed to get this money—from patients or out of their own pocket.
Law enforcement officials documented the Friday money collections for several months. In particular, it was established that just one of the doctors was forced to pay over 40,000 UAH for the opportunity to work.
The three doctors have been notified of the allegations against them. At the request of investigators and prosecutors, the court imposed pretrial detention as a precautionary measure on the two department heads, with bail set at 266,000 UAH.
At the same time, the court imposed a preventive measure on the hospital’s medical director in the form of house arrest, prohibiting him from leaving his place of residence between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. The prosecutor’s office will appeal this court decision and demand that the suspect be removed from office.
This was reported by the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office.
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