International medical aid group quits work in Ukraine, citing corruption (12/04/05)

International medical aid group quits work in Ukraine, citing corruption

by Andrew Nynka

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - An international medical mission that has worked in Ukraine for six years decided it will no longer work in the country, citing corruption as the central reason for its decision to leave, officials with the organization said.

On a trip to Ukraine in September, members of the Volunteers in Medical Missions organization were detained by customs agents in Kyiv's Boryspil airport. The team of seven doctors and nurses traveled to Ukraine and planned to distribute their shipment of medical supplies and medications to needy villagers in the Chornobyl region.

But Customs officials told the group that they would only be allowed to leave the airport with their shipment of medications and other medical aid if they paid a duty of nearly $45,000, said Lisa Prytula, one of the team's two trip leaders. According to Mrs. Prytula, a registered nurse from St. Paul, Minn., the group never learned why its medications were confiscated.

"I was never told of any missing documentation or incomplete paperwork by the Ukrainian customs agents," Mrs. Prytula said. "I requested many times clarification on what was inadequate and exactly why we were not able to take our meds in. My question was never answered."

Larry Secrest, the organization's executive director, told The Ukrainian Weekly that Volunteers in Medical Missions has sent teams of volunteers to Ukraine for six consecutive years and this was the first time they had encountered such a problem.

The group regularly plans and coordinates international aid trips from its offices in Seneca, S.C., and Mr. Secrest said that the planning for the trip to Ukraine was no different.

"To my knowledge the team followed the same procedure that previous teams had followed prior to their entrance into Ukraine," Mr. Secrest said. "I believe the proper paperwork was completed and the team did what was required of them."

Customs Service officials at Kyiv's Boryspil airport told The Ukrainian Weekly that the volunteer group did not have the necessary documents. According to Serhii Cheperys, the deputy chief of Customs at Boryspil, the group should have gotten permission from the Cabinet of Ministers.

Mr. Cheperys said that Customs officials confiscated the medications, but these can still be returned if and when all of the proper documents are received. He also said that, as Customs officials were examining the medications, they found that some drugs had expired.

Following the incident, the board of directors of Volunteers in Medical Missions met to discuss the organization's future in Ukraine.

The board decided that because of the incident, which took place on September 18, Volunteers in Medical Missions was pulling its operations out of Ukraine.

"The board discussed the trip to Ukraine and felt that it would not be wise to plan and promote another trip into Ukraine for 2006," Mr. Secrest said. "This was based upon the difficulties that were encountered on the recent trip and also upon the pressing needs that are represented by other countries."

Mrs. Prytula, who works as a nurse at United Hospital in St. Paul, Minn., said she understood the board's decision, but regretted that move.

"They're stewards of very limited resources and they just said forget it - it's not worth it," Mrs. Prytula said.

Volunteers in Medical Missions (VIMM) is a non-profit humanitarian aid organization that has sent similar aid missions to the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Ecuador, Honduras and Mongolia, among other countries. The organization estimates that in 2003 it treated 17,449 people and provided $1.14 million in medical care over the course of 13 international trips.

"It would be imprudent to say that we would never return" to Ukraine, Mr. Secrest, the executive director, said. The organization would "seriously consider the possibility of again returning to Ukraine should a medical leader appear that has a desire to work in [Ukraine]," he said. "We would of course do so with our eyes open to the possible problems that could arise."

The exact value of the medical shipment is not known, Mrs. Prytula said, because the medications were not bought by the organization. Rather, they were donated to the group from a number of different sources - various hospitals from around the United States, as well as several aid organizations.

"It is very difficult to say how much - [to determine] the value on this trip," Mrs. Prytula said. In addition to carrying prescription and non-prescription strength medications, the group brought stethoscopes and protective equipment, such as latex gloves.

Mrs. Prytula said she brought with her eight containers weighing 70 pounds each, while most other team members each brought two containers. In addition to the medicines, the containers were filled with 1,000 toothbrushes and 1,000 tubes of toothpaste, inhalers and "lots of orthopedic supplies," she noted.

Much of the medication was meant to treat ulcers, hypertension, infections and inflammations. There where oral pills for diabetics, as well as acetominophen, aspirin and vitamins, which are very expensive to buy in Ukraine, Mrs. Prytula said. She noted that in Ukraine a typical bottle of 100 vitamins costs $8. (Ukraine's monthly subsistence minimum, which was set by the Parliament in October 2004, amounts to $85.)

After being held by Customs agents for nearly three hours, the group was released, though without its medications. Mrs. Prytula said the group spent several thousand dollars to purchase what they could in Ukraine to replenish what was taken from them so that they could continue on with their mission.

The group had planned to set up clinics in remote Ukrainian villages where the team would hold eight health clinics.

"I think it's very responsible and ethical medicine" because, in addition to the medicines and equipment, Volunteers in Medical Missions also provides an education to people, Mrs. Prytula said.

Despite the setback, the organization was able to serve a total of 1,200 people, Mrs. Prytula said. "I really believe that health care is a human right," and people in Ukraine are "clearly being ignored," she said.

Yana Sedova of The Ukrainian Weekly's Kyiv Press Bureau contributed to this report.

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