Hranaturov: children from regional rehabilitation centre in Mykolaiv temporarily evacuated to other regions

Yurii Hranaturov, deputy head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration, archive photo

It has been decided to temporarily relocate the children from the Centre for Medical Rehabilitation and Palliative Care in Mykolaiv, known as the Children's Home, to other regions, away from the war zone.

Yurii Hranaturov, deputy head of the Mykolaiv regional military administration, told this in a commentary to NikVesti.

As you know, in early March, it became known that the monitoring group of the Ombudsman's Office, together with NGOs, inspected children's educational institutions in Mykolaiv region and found gross violations of children's rights. It was reported that the wards of the Medical Rehabilitation Centre in Mykolaiv were fixed with belts to chairs and wheelchairs, and a six-month-old baby suffered swelling from «tying». In fact, the published photos show that the children were restrained using improvised means, including ropes, rather than special means. As a result, the regional health department set up a special commission to review the Ombudsman's report.

Yurii Hranaturov said that as of 25 March, the children from the medical institution were temporarily transferred to the territory of the regional children's hospital, where there is a shelter. The issue of their temporary evacuation to the western regions of Ukraine is currently being resolved, as the Cabinet of Ministers' resolution stipulates that such institutions cannot be located at a distance of less than 100 kilometres from the combat zone. There are no other similar institutions in Mykolaiv region, so the issue is being resolved at the interregional level.

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«In accordance with the Cabinet of Ministers' resolution, solutions have already been worked out together with the State Service for Children to temporarily relocate these children to safer regions. We are talking about children who are very difficult to place in families and should be moved to safe regions with appropriate conditions,» said Yurii Granaturov.

He added that active work on adoption is underway: «There are first positive results — about 12 children can get a family».

«I agree with many of the comments made in the report — some of them have been addressed in the process. For example, all children's underwear is now labelled, and each child has a separate locker where only their clothes are kept — new and clean. Such mistakes will not happen again. As for the technical aspects and documentation, depending on which service was responsible for it, we worked with all of them. Most of the documentation is kept not by our medical centre, but by the Service for Children. Disputable issues were also agreed upon,» said Yurii Hranaturov.

Read about what has changed in the three weeks since the scandal at the Children's Home in the article.

Scandal in the reorganised baby home in Mykolaiv

On 3 March, it became known that the monitoring group of the Ombudsman's Office, together with NGOs, had inspected children's educational institutions in Mykolaiv region and found gross violations of children's rights. The children were fixed with belts to chairs and strollers, and a six-month-old baby suffered swelling from «tying». In other institutions, children were given expired medicines, did not receive medical care and had limited access to basic services.

On the same day, Inna Miroshnychenko, an orphan rights activist and lawyer who is a member of the Ombudsman's Monitoring Group, showed the conditions in which children live in the reorganised Centre for Medical Rehabilitation and Palliative Care in Mykolaiv (Regional Children's Home). She actually showed the children tied to chairs, who are not allowed to go for walks and are forced to spend time watching TV.

The human rights activist said that according to the conditions, 89 staff members are supposed to take care of the children. However, as it turned out from the data of the Ombudsman's Office monitoring group, only two employees were looking after the children. She called the conditions in which the children were kept inhumane.

It should be noted that in April 2024, the Centre for Medical Rehabilitation and Palliative Care was merged with the Mykolaiv Regional Children's Hospital. At the time, this decision was explained by the need to «protect the institution from a lack of funding.

We would also like to remind you that this is not the first scandalous case involving the Mykolaiv Oblast Children's Hospital. Back in July 2023, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the hospital was in poor condition during his visit to Mykolaiv.

In one of the wards, Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that the room was not adapted for a comfortable stay. In particular, the ward lacked curtain rods, curtains, and air conditioning.