The Kyiv City Clinical Endocrinology Center provided journalists with information about salaries only after the editorial staff of “Kashтан NEWS” made a repeated request to the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA).
We began investigating the topic of salaries in the capital's hospitals after learning about the public meetings of the KCSA commission analyzing the financial and economic activities of municipal enterprises for the first half of 2024. Specifically, medical directors reported on whether financial plans are being met, if medical equipment is used effectively, whether enough COVID vaccines have been procured, and if utility payments are up to date. Many medical facility leaders were asked about the salary levels of their staff.
1We, the journalists, were struck when during the report from the administration of the 17th hospital, the director of the KCSA Health Department, Valentina Ginzburg, remarked that she was “shocked by the average salary of a doctor,” implying it was low. It turned out there is a significant gap between the salaries of medical administrators and those of doctors, nurses, and junior medical staff. In many medical institutions, managers earn three times more than doctors, with some leaders making over 80,000! This is more than the salary of the Prime Minister of Ukraine! (According to official data, the actual salary of Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in April 2024 was 77,404.77 UAH. The Minister of Health, Viktor Lyashko, has a monthly salary of nearly 69,000 UAH).
The editorial team inquired about salary levels in medical institutions by sending information requests. We received several responses, but the endocrinology center took the traditional approach, reminiscent of the notorious Soviet era, stating that “the press should not know about this.” This encapsulates the essence of the response from the director of the endocrinology center, Hanna Pavlenko.
2 3Could we remain silent and file this banal reply away? No. Although we are dealing with a medical institution that saves lives and helps fight serious illnesses, this also touches on very fundamental issues—freedom of speech, journalists' access to information about budget expenditures, openness, and transparency.
Who are we dealing with?
Let’s get to know this hospital better. The Kyiv City Clinical Endocrinology Center was established in October 2007 by a decision of the Kyiv City Council.
In February 2020, it was transformed into a Municipal Non-Profit Enterprise “Kyiv City Clinical Endocrinology Center.” According to the institution’s website, the Center is currently one of the leading facilities in Ukraine's healthcare system, providing comprehensive, accessible, timely, and highly qualified assistance to the population with endocrine disorders, both in inpatient and outpatient settings. The medical institution develops areas such as endocrinology, endocrine surgery, and gynecology.
It was in this hospital that a groundbreaking method for combating advanced cases of malignant tumors during thyroid gland surgeries was first implemented in world practice in 2002.
4Now, let’s discuss the pathology of the response
On August 27, the Center's administration sent a response to the editorial information request. In it, they immediately sought to refresh journalists' knowledge of the Law “On Access to Public Information.” Thus, in the response, the head of the Center, Hanna Pavlenko, quotes a large excerpt from this law that defines public information and what is meant by the term “information holders.”
Then they lead us to the main point:
“According to the Statute... KNP “KMKEC” is a non-profit enterprise whose goal is to provide secondary (specialized) medical assistance to patients. Therefore, KNP “KMKEC” is not an information holder according to the Law, and the requested information does not pertain to public information.”
So, good luck finding out who and in which official offices holds public information. Because, in other words, this information in the Center is “under a reliable lock.”
On our part, we can also remind Hanna Pavlenko of the key requirements of the law, specifically that access to public information is based on principles of transparency and openness, allowing for free receipt and dissemination of information.
Moreover, data about salaries are not classified or restricted. As stated in the law, “information about the structure, principles of formation, and amount of remuneration, bonuses, and additional benefits for the head, deputy head of a legal entity of public law, or a member of the supervisory board of a state or municipal enterprise or organization... is not considered restricted access information.”
The law clearly states that “access to information regarding the preparation, consideration, and approval of budgets, budget estimates, and plans for the use of budget funds by budget fund recipients, as well as their execution according to the budgets, budget programs, and expenditures (except for secret expenditures), cannot be restricted...”
Perhaps the director of the Center forgot that the institution is funded by the budget. And that is taxpayer money! The logic of the response suggests that the city community should not know what salaries are at the endocrinology center. By this analogy, other municipal medical institutions should also refrain from disclosing their budget expenditures. Thus, one might wonder whether Ms. Pavlenko's subordinates, who prepared the response, got lost in the legal forest? Budget funds are sacred. Every spent hryvnia must be publicly accounted for, which is something the officials in Kyiv seem reluctant to do.
5Awakening
How did the correspondence between the editorial staff and KCSA regarding salaries at the endocrinology center develop? On September 27, the director of the KCSA Health Department, Valentina Ginzburg, informed that “the proper holder of the requested information regarding the salary amounts of KNP “KMKEC” employees is directly the municipal non-profit enterprise “Kyiv City Clinical Endocrinology Center.”
Finally, it became clear who the information holder is.
On September 10, the director of the endocrinology center, Hanna Pavlenko, did send the editorial staff information about salaries. Did they decide not to wander any further in the legal forest?
In the first half of 2024, the average salaries were as follows: the center director – 35,813 UAH, deputies – 33,817 UAH, chief accountant (including vacation pay and use of annual leave) – 40,465 UAH, heads of structural units – 25,037 UAH, doctors – 20,318 UAH, nurses – 14,422 UAH, and orderlies – 9,169 UAH.
Now there are no secrets. Perhaps this unpleasant story of blocking important public information for the community will serve as a lesson for other officials.
Bohdan TUR
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