What is usually bought at the end of the year? Well, most often during this period, everyone already starts buying New Year’s gifts little by little. What else? In the conditions of a great war, it is different and useful for the military, but there is no clear calendar reference here, the needs are constant. Well, what do medical institutions buy at the end of the year? It can be assumed that everything is the same as at other times of the year. Medicines, medical equipment, surgeries supplies. And… air conditioners.

Thus, since September, Ukrainian medical institutions rushed to massively buy air conditioning systems. The sums of these orders are already measured in hundreds of millions of hryvnias and, of course, they cannot do without overpayments. But what is the reason? Why buy air conditioners closer to winter? Who is overpaying, how much, and most importantly, to whom? Let’s figure it out.

Air conditioners in the wards was one of the requirements announced by the Minister of Health Viktor Liashko at the beginning of September. According to the official, hospitals that do not have this equipment will not be able to contract for certain packages with the National Health Service of Ukraine from 2024. And if there are no contracts, there is no money.

According to the same Ministry of Health, as of the beginning of autumn, only 12% of the wards in the country’s hospitals were equipped with air conditioners.