Reconstruction of Okhmatdyt will be controlled by a special council

The Ministry of Health has approved regulations for the Council for Controlling the Restoration of Destroyed and Damaged Buildings of the National Children’s Specialized Hospital «Okhmatdyt». This will ensure public control over the reconstruction of the hospital, including the selection of contractors.

As reported by the Ministry of Health on Tuesday, 6 August, the Recovery Council is a specially created body to ensure public participation and control over the reconstruction of the hospital after the Russian attack. It focuses on controlling the use of funds raised to rebuild the children’s hospital. The Ministry of Health has assured that this Council will ensure public control over all recovery processes, including transparency and integrity in the selection of a contractor for the current repairs and interior decoration of the modern medical and diagnostic complex of Okhmatdyt.

This board will consist of 15 people. Its members are to be approved by the Ministry of Health in two stages. At the first stage, the following distribution of seats is envisaged:

• Six people from among the donors who made the largest donations and the organizers of the fundraiser who secured the largest amount of money raised (they must agree to participate in the Recovery Council).
• One person from the Ministry of Health.
• One representative from Okhmatdyt.

During the second stage, seven representatives of public associations, their unions, and charitable organizations working in the areas of corruption prevention, patient protection, healthcare development, professional associations of healthcare professionals, or architecture and urban planning will be selected.

The people selected at the first stage will participate in the selection for the second stage – the applications will be reviewed and ranked. The Ministry of Health noted that the announcement of the start of accepting applications for the second stage should appear on the ministry’s website «in the near future». The selection criteria can already be found in the adopted regulation.

At present, representatives of philanthropists will be offered to join the Board first, considering the amount of their contribution and participation in organizing the fundraiser.

Reconstruction of Okhmatdyt

On the morning of 8 July 2024, the Russians launched a massive missile attack on Kyiv. In particular, the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in the city center came under enemy fire.

On 22 July, the Okhmatdyt – Healthy Childhood Charitable Foundation announced the winner of a tender for urgent repairs to the hospital’s facade and interior. The winner was a little-known Zaporizhzhia-based company, Bud-Technology, which submitted one of the most expensive bids at UAH 307.45 million (excluding VAT). In addition, Prozorro launched tenders for technical supervision of construction works worth UAH 5.2 million and for engineering and consulting services worth UAH 9.3 million. The head of the Ministry assured that no contracts would be signed for all these tenders.

After the scandal, on 2 August, the Ministry of Health announced a new tender on Prozzoro, which should be held within 7-16 days.