Former Kharkiv psychiatric hospital department head organized military register exclusion for $6,500
The former head of one of the departments of Kharkiv Regional Psychiatric Hospital is suspected of organizing the sale of fictitious diagnoses to remove a man of draft age from the military register.
"The former head of the psychiatric department has been served a notice of suspicion on the fact of receiving an unlawful benefit for himself and a third party for influencing the decision-making of persons authorized to perform state functions, combined with the extortion of such benefit (Part 3 of Art. 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine)," reports the press service of Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office.
According to the investigation, in September last year, the suspect offered his acquaintance help with removal from the military register. For money, he guaranteed to influence officials at hospitals, the Military Medical Commission (VLC), and the District Territorial Center for Recruitment and Social Support so that they would make a decision on his exclusion from the register. He valued all services at $6.5 thousand, which, according to him, were intended for officials.
During meetings in Kharkiv, the former department head instructed his acquaintance on how to behave during medical examinations and simulate mental disorders. He arranged medical examinations and fictitious hospitalizations at the psychiatric hospital without the "patient’s" actual stay in the in-patient ward. Tests were submitted by other individuals instead of the draft-eligible man, and all medical conclusions and referrals were coordinated in advance.
"Before the registration, the man was instructed not to shave or take a shower, as well as to complain of insomnia, memory loss, persecution by neighbors, and phone tapping," notes the press service of the regional prosecutor’s office.
According to its data, thanks to such actions, the man of draft age was placed on the psychiatric register and received medical extracts with a diagnosis of an "hereditary disease" – acute psychosis, allegedly inherited along the maternal line. On the basis of the falsified documents, a decision was made regarding his exclusion from the military register.
Law enforcement officers conducted authorized searches at the regional psychiatric hospital. The involvement of other medical professionals in committing the specified crime is being checked.