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Volume 4, issue 08 August 2010 Kharkiv was not originally included among Ukraine`s four first choice Euro 2012 host cities, but the East Ukrainian capital forced itself into contention by pushing ahead impressively with a variety of infrastructure projects. This determination was finally rewarded when Kharkiv replaced Dnipropetrovsk as a UEFA host city in 2009.
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Metalist maracles win UEFA respect
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Kharkiv airport: ready for take off
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23:45 Saturday, September 4, 2010 |
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Industry The Doctors’ Plot
NGOs slam state officials for disrupting national AIDS treatment programmes and arresting doctors
Pavlo Skala Volume 4, issue 6 June 2010
Despite having one of the highest HIV/AIDS infection rates in Europe, Ukraine’s response to the health threat posed by the virus often remains problematic. The International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine (Alliance-Ukraine) is currently working to gather signatures for a petition addressed to Ukraine’s Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and Prosecutor General Oleksandr Medvedko, asking them to reduce existing barriers to substitution maintenance therapy (SMT) programs in Ukraine and protect the rights of both SMT patients and medical staff. In particular, the petition calls for release before trial of narcology doctor Illya Podolyan, 62, who is responsible for SMT provision in Odesa Region Narcology Outpatient Clinic. Dr. Podolyan was charged and arrested in late May for allegedly “committing crimes relating to the organised narcotics drugs trade”. He remains in custody. The petition has already been signed by a number of influential figures in the fight against AIDS in Ukraine including Dr. Mirzakhid Sultanov, UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC), Dr. Irina Grishayeva, Clinton Foundation HIV Initiative and many others. “We are hopeful that these joint efforts will make a difference similar to the impact we were able to have a few years back when we strongly advocated the introduction of methadone for opiate substitution treatment in Ukraine,” wrote Dr. Ani Shakarishvili, UNAIDS Country Coordinator in Ukraine, in her letter of support. Police accused of hampering treatment programme Earlier this year investigations by police into the Oblast Narcology Outpatient Clinic where Dr Podolyan worked resulted in substitution maintenance therapy programs grinding to a virtual halt as about 200 patients were unable to get their medication for three consecutive days. From 2004 people who use opiate-type drugs in Ukraine have been legally able to access government-run SMT programs providing methadone and buprenorphine to help them manage their drug habit but individual police forces continue to prosecute those doing this important work and to harass patients attending clinics. Figures within the NGO community maintain that Dr Podolyan’s arrest in Odessa is just another incident in the ongoing persecution of SMT patients and doctors who help them. This includes the mass detention of the patients, arrests of medical staff and disclosure of confidential information. A second Doctor, Yarsolav Olendr, who also prescribes substitution maintenance therapy in Ternopol Narcology Outpatient Centre for drug addicts was unable to take part in a recent press conference organized by Alliance-Ukraine on this issue at the UNIAN news agency in Kyiv on June 3, having been told by the police that he was not at liberty to leave his home in Ternopil. “For months I have been questioned by the police and each time the detectives charge me with new counts of alleged drugs trading and violations of narcotics legislation. All of the accusations are rooted in the simple fact that I happen to treat patients in the framework of a state-supported drug program,” explains Dr. Olendr. Easy victims: Addicts with AIDS Over the last year Alliance Ukraine have documented a dozen cases of human rights abuses of patients and medical staff including the spot checks of medical facilities which implement SMT programs, the unlawful removal of personalized lists of drug dependent patients; unlawful home searches, subjecting patients and medical staff to psychological pressure and hindering the supply of SMT medications. On April 29 Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Seminozhenko called on the Ministry of Internal Affairs to take urgent measures to ensure the rights of SMT patients and medical staff but there is as yet no sign that the situation has improved. “Many patients from Ukraine’s regions have reported cases of police brutality towards operators of the SMT hotline, which was established in April 2009. Substitution treatment programmes implemented in many cities at narcological dispensaries have been turned by the police into no go areas prone to random police swoops. “Our patients have no rights and they are powerless,” comments Iryna Sukhoparova, the mother of an SMT patient and the president of the Hope and Trust charity foundation. The NGOs involved in the implementation of the country’s AIDS programmes are well aware of the deficiencies in the current system and the opportunities it creates for accusations of malpractice or professional misconduct among those charged with administering the drugs involved in treatment of addicts with AIDS, but the current message is that control of narcotics distribution cannot be allowed to interfere with vital treatment. Charities are calling for an end to the unlawful detention of drug dependent patients and the criminal actions brought against Ukrainian doctors who are guilty of nothing more than trying to do their jobs and provide medical care to some of the country’s most vulnerable citizens. A success story under threat Ukraine’s ability to deal with the AIDS problem among its drug addicts will play a major role in determining how successful the country’s broader HIV/AIDS containment efforts will be. It will also have an impact on the way the country’s AIDS efforts are viewed internationally, where Ukraine’s programmes for drug dependent patients had been viewed as a major breakthrough. Andriy Klepikov, Executive Director of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance Ukraine concludes: “Currently in Ukraine thanks to the support of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and to aid from USAID over 5,300 drug dependent patients receive treatment in all regions of Ukraine. This is a significant achievement in the field of national drug policy and HIV prevention for people who use drugs and it was openly recognized as such internationally. We cannot now let all these efforts go to waste as a result of inconsistencies in legislation and police interference into medical programmes.” Pavlo Skala is Policy & Advocacy Programme Manager at the International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine. He is a member of the National Anti-Drugs Coordination Council under the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers and a former senior detective for the Ministry of Internal Affairs drug enforcement department and National Interpol HQ
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