Minister of Health Andrei Usatyi and the head of the National Health Insurance Company (CNAM) Mircea Buga are suspected of favoring the inclusion in the list of compensated drugs of preparations made by a company that is represented in Moldova by the wife of Deputy Minister of the Interior Octavian Grama and by a firm for which the deputy minister worked before moving to the ministry, reads an article published on the portal “Moldova Curata” (“Clean Moldova”), quoted by IPN.

According to the article, the list of compensated drugs approved by the Ministry of Health on April 22 contains 12 types of medicines produced by a German company. According to the CV of Deputy Minister of Health Octavian Grama, published on the Ministry’s website, he worked as the director of this company’s representative office in Moldova in 2005-2009. Grama left this post when he was named deputy minister. Currently, the company’s branch in Moldova is managed by a cousin of Octavian Grama. Four of these drugs, whose price varies between 50 and 100 lei, are fully compensated by the state, i.e. the state pays their price and they are issued to entitled persons free of charge. The given medicines are administered to persons suffering from diabetes and to children younger than five.

However, the decision as regards what drugs and from what company were to be included in the list was taken by the Council for Compensated Drugs. Octavian Grama is the deputy head of this Council that includes Andrei Usatyi, Mircea Buga, heads of the Ministry’s divisions and the director and vice director of the Medicine Agency.

The deputy chairman of the National Integrity Council Victor Stratila promised that the investigation will be completed by August 4.

In a letter sent to the National Integrity Council, which was published on the Ministry of Health’s official website, Minister Andrei Usatyi denies any irregularity committed in compiling the list of compensated drugs. “For the first time, decisional transparency was ensured in compiling the list by involving the specialized commissions and the Council for Compensated Drugs,” reads the letter. According to the minister, the commissions select only drugs that are authorized in Moldova and propose them for inclusion in the list.

Launched by seven Moldovan NGOs, Moldova Curata is an online platform that focuses on the integrity of persons holding public posts and monitors the work of the National Integrity Council.