The former chief of staff of Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, Anastasia Rakova, will now oversee the social direction in the updated Moscow government. Previously, this post was held by Leonid Pechatnikov; his name does not appear in the current government.
Sobyanin, whose inauguration took place the day before, on September 18, announced this on his blog. The decree on personnel changes also appeared on the city hall website. “He [Pechatnikov] is a practical person, a wonderful doctor, and he didn’t quite like bureaucratic work, which he told me more than once. I am very grateful to him that he agreed, albeit with great difficulty and reluctance, but still agreed to work for some time in the Moscow government. Over the years, he has done a lot for the city's health care. We have gone through the most difficult and sometimes very painful, but necessary changes. As a result, the industry has become economically more stable and better motivated by clients,” wrote the capital’s mayor, clarifying that Pechatnikov’s resignation is also related to his transfer to another job. At the same time, Sobyanin hopes that Pechatnikov will remain “at least” his advisor.
Anastasia Rakova has headed the Moscow Mayor's Office since 2010. Before that, she worked in the Tyumen region together with Sergei Sobyanin, and also held the posts of Deputy Secretariat of the Head of the Administration of the President of Russia and Deputy Minister of Regional Development.
Leonid Pechatnikov is a graduate of the First Medical Institute named after. THEM. Sechenov, he graduated from the university in 1979. Then in 1981 he completed his residency training in internal medicine. Until 1994, he worked as the chief therapist of the Central Republican Clinical Hospital of the Ministry of Health of the RSFSR, and from 1994 to 2001 he served as the chief therapist of the diagnostic and treatment association of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, from where he moved to KGB No. 67 of Moscow as the chief therapist. In 2004 he became president of the European Medical Center (EMC).
In 2010, Pechatnikov headed the Moscow Health Department, and two years later he moved to the social bloc of the Moscow government. In this post, he repeatedly found himself embroiled in various scandals - from the purchase of medical equipment and drugs to questions about the education of the vice mayor himself. The name of Pechatnikov is associated with the optimization of the Moscow healthcare system, which began in 2014 and was associated with large-scale layoffs of the capital’s doctors and the consolidation of medical institutions. Pechatnikov himself said that the optimization “ended with good indicators,” and to the then head of the State Duma Committee on Health Protection, Sergei Kalashnikov, who called the reform “genocide,” this: “It makes no sense to comment on Kalashnikov’s statements. I found the answer to the deputy from Faina Georgievna Ranevskaya: “I blurted it out like a p****l in a puddle.”
At the end of 2016 - beginning of 2017, Leonid Pechatnikov took an active part in the high-profile conflict between the then chief physician of the Moscow City Oncology Hospital No. 62 (MGOB No. 62) Anatoly Makhson and the Department of Health. The department issued order No. 963 dated December 1, 2016, changing the status of MGB No. 62 from autonomous to state-financed organization. Then, by order of December 5, Anatoly Makhson was dismissed from the post of chief physician of the Moscow City Hospital No. 62.
Makhson statements to the FSB and investigative committee with a request to check the purchases of the Moscow Health Department and bring officials to criminal liability if violations are identified. The statement cited examples of the department purchasing five oncological drugs and two units of medical equipment, the prices for which were inflated by 217.8 million rubles. Leonid Pechatnikov refuted Makhson’s arguments, tried to convict the hospital of illegal business and, in the end, announced that inspections of the procurement activities of the Health Department did not reveal any violations.
In 2017, representatives of the Dissernet community Vademecum said that they were unable to find the deputy mayor’s doctoral dissertation in the available sources. Representatives of the Central Scientific Medical Library at First Medical Center and the All-Russian Attestation Commission (VAC) also failed to find it. The Department of Certification of Scientific and Scientific-Pedagogical Workers of the Ministry of Education and Science responded to Vademecum’s request that “there is no information about the award of the academic degree of Doctor of Medical Sciences to Leonid Mikhailovich Pechatnikov... in the department’s registration and accounting database.” In response, Leonid Pechatnikov said that he defended his doctoral dissertation in France, but his doctoral dissertation could also be found in the databases of the Bibliographic Agency for Higher Education of France, whose archives contain information about all scientific works defended in the republic.
The authoritative Telegram channel Nezygar, which is suspected of being associated with the presidential administration, reported that Leonid Pechatnikov, in the recent past the Deputy Prime Minister of the Moscow government, who oversaw the social block, was under investigation. According to the channel, he is accused of embezzlement in the amount of 3.5 billion rubles. In addition, the mayor of the capital, Sergei Sobyanin, is already aware of the conflict that has arisen.
Actually, if the information is true, Pechatnikov became the second vice-mayor of the capital, risking joining Ulyukaev, Belykh and other “illustrious prisoners.” But if Luzhkov’s deputy Ryabinin did not work in the government for long and was quickly caught in a bribe, without having time to become completely part of the capital’s elite, then Leonid Pechatnikov is a completely different figure in scale.
He came to the first government of Sergei Sobyanin as head of the health department from the post of director of the European Medical Center. Therefore, he was known as a specialist in advanced, in the terms of the current time, medicine, that is, moving to self-sufficiency at the expense of the patient. In fact, it is with the name of Pechatnikov that a very controversial reform to optimize the capital’s healthcare is associated, built on reducing the number of doctors and merging (consolidating) medical institutions. This reform was met with sharp condemnation from both patients and doctors themselves. A prominent State Duma deputy and former social minister, Kalashnikov, compared it to genocide.
Evgeniy Samarin/RIA Novosti
Meanwhile, the activity of the “optimizer” was marked by his elevation to the rank of Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs. And it must be said that for a very long time Leonid Mikhailovich was, as they like to say, absolutely Teflon, that is, the waves of scandals that arose around his name did not cause any harm to his career.
It started with the fact that his chosen successor as Moscow's Minister of Health urgently emigrated to Switzerland, sensing that the smell was fried. In a distant country he had a solid reserve airfield. But Pechatnikov behaved as if nothing had happened. However, the next minister Khripun did not show himself in any way. Doctors even began to remember with longing the times of Luzhkov’s minister, the famous surgeon Seltsovsky.
Somehow, inopportunely, it turned out that while introducing himself everywhere as a Doctor of Medical Sciences, Pechatnikov could not document his high scientific achievements. In the end, the cornered doctor of science said that he defended his dissertation in France, but there was no formal confirmation there either.
Meanwhile, signals were multiplying that not everything was in order in the sphere of capital medicine. The culmination was a public showdown between the vice mayor and the famous oncologist Anatoly Makhson, who accused the capital’s healthcare management of inflating the cost of purchasing drugs. There was even a figure for overpayments of almost 200 million rubles. Pechatnikov responded by accusing his opponent of economic abuse. In general, there was a lot of noise. But at the center of the showdown between medical husbands was the same “optimization,” which seemed especially egregious in the field of oncology.
Pechatnikov was also known for his unexpected support of the liberal Leonid Gozman, who compared the NKVD and the Gestapo. And when the KP journalist recalled that the Nazis made lampshades from the skin of Gozman’s ancestors, Pechatnikov said that he would no longer have anything to do with Komsomolskaya Pravda. However, he quickly came to his senses.
It must be said that when dismissing Pechatnikov after his next election, Mayor Sobyanin made a heartfelt speech about the merits of Leonid Mikhailovich and his irresistible desire to return to practical medicine. All decorum was observed. Although everyone understood that the emerging information about strange suppliers of the largest metropolitan hospitals registered in Cyprus and other offshore countries did not remain without some consequences. After all, among their official founders there were, for example, people from the same European Medical Center, which Pechatnikov headed for a long time.
Now, if you believe Nezygar, they could unwind the entire chain through which government billions went to offshore companies. We are waiting for details.
The reputation of Moscow Vice-Mayor for Social Affairs Leonid Pechatnikov has long raised questions among the public. The other day he again reminded himself of himself with another controversial initiative.
According to the official, Russia should follow the example of a number of Asian countries. In them, patients with cancer at the last stage are treated at their own expense, even if they are under the state insurance program.
It is unlikely that Pechatnikov voiced his point of view - the policy of paid medicine in the Russian Federation has been consistently implemented for a long time. However, it was he who stated that the late stage of cancer is the problem of the patient himself and he must pay for treatment. Well, if there is no money, then there is no need to disturb the domestic healthcare system.
Pechatnikov advised citizens to undergo regular medical examinations to detect oncology in the early stages.
Here in Korea, there, if a person has not undergone a check-up and is diagnosed with advanced cancer, then he will have to pay for its treatment himself. It seems to me that the path that Asian countries, including Japan and Korea, have chosen, seems reasonable to me,” said the deputy mayor of Moscow.
He, however, forgot to mention the salaries of the Japanese and Koreans and their quality of life. Russian Federation unlike Asia, it is a third world country with an impoverished and sick population.
In general, Leonid Pechatnikov, according to all polls, is extremely unpopular among city officials. It was he who led the process of “optimization” of Moscow healthcare, after which thousands of doctors found themselves on the street, and a number of medical institutions were closed and abolished.
One of the most famous scandals involving Pechatnikov is his mania for moving around the city in ambulances. This is how he avoids traffic jams: once the traffic police caught him on Kutuzovsky Prospekt driving with a special signal, as reported by many publications.
Like any self-respecting official, Pechatnikov has a Doctor of Science degree. True, so far no one has been able to find his dissertation. Even the famous medical publication Vademecum could not do this - traces scientific work not yet discovered.
It has also been repeatedly reported that the deputy mayor previously received the position of head of the Moscow Department of Health with the support of the shareholder of the European Medical Center (GEMC) group Leonid Shaiman. In exchange, without competition, in violation of the law, he was given city hospital No. 63.
You can recall the articles of blogger Stalik Khankishiev, where he talked about the dismissal by the capital authorities of the head physician of Hospital No. 62, Anatoly Makhson. He was extremely dissatisfied with centralized procurement of drugs for cancer patients at inflated prices. Moreover, patients never received many medications. For disclosing this information, Makhson was fired from his position.
Pechatnikov’s “merits” also include a two-fold reduction in the time spent in hospitals.
It is the Deputy Mayor for Social Affairs who is called the official who paid $10 million to the Humpty Dumpty hackers for not making his Internet correspondence public.
Why did the plan to reduce hospitals surface after the fact, why did it not appear in the public space earlier?
If it had been a document, then it probably would have surfaced in time. But since this is only one of the proposals of the expert group, it was simply stolen from the computer of the health department.
- Nevertheless, why was there no open discussion about the need to reduce city clinics?
Discussion about what?
The fact that we are switching to single-channel financing, that the city budget will not finance the hospital, and all expenses fall on the shoulders of the compulsory medical insurance fund.
What kind of discussion should we have when laws were adopted in 2010 that declared this?
- You yourself said that Moscow violated this law(“Moscow was not included in insurance medicine for quite a long time. We simply did not comply with federal legislation, we had the opportunity to finance from the budget,” Leonid Pechatnikov told RBC). If Moscow violated the law, it would be logical to explain why the law was violated and why this cannot be done anymore?
I see no reason to hold public hearings on whether it is necessary to continue breaking the law. Agree, the subject of discussion sounds rather stupid: we received an act from the Accounts Chamber, which indicated to us that we are breaking the law, financing from the budget what we should finance under compulsory medical insurance. Until January 1, 2015, this could still be afforded, but after that the law becomes an integral part of any legislation. All medical services, except psychiatry, tuberculosis and infectious diseases, are “omitted” from compulsory medical insurance [the state program of the city of Moscow “Capital Healthcare” for 2012-2020 provides for the volume of budget funds for 2014 - 291.3 billion rubles, in 2015 - 303.4 billion rubles, in 2016 - 311.4 billion rubles. In 2015, expenses will be spent, among other things, on the provision of outpatient care (96.6 billion rubles), including these funds to finance neuropsychiatric and drug treatment dispensaries. Moscow will also allocate 2.5 billion next year for the provision of high-tech types of medical care not included in the compulsory medical insurance program].
- Why did you still break the law?
We needed to prepare the basis for optimization; it’s not easy to transfer the system from the budget to compulsory medical insurance.
Many doctors believe that it would be worthwhile to first build new clinics, and then optimize what is available.
We build everything we can. We are building the Morozov hospital, a perinatal center in the 67th hospital, major renovation buildings on the territory of the Botkin Hospital. Moscow, like all cities in the world, will focus on multidisciplinary hospitals.
To which doctors tell us: such things are good, for example, in Spain, where there are no traffic jams. And in Moscow, where the journey to the hospital can take several hours, someone is bound to die of bleeding in an ambulance.
I will give another example from life. Here is a gynecological hospital, a woman is being taken for surgery. Anesthesia, opening of the abdominal cavity, instead of gynecology, appendicitis. This hospital doesn't even have a general surgery license. A woman is under anesthesia, and a surgeon is coming to her from a nearby hospital to perform an operation. And this is a real-life case: an ophthalmology hospital, a person comes for cataract surgery. He's having a heart attack ambulance in traffic jams on Tverskaya he rushes after this patient to hospitalize him where there is a cardiologist. Single-profile hospitals do not survive; they are dangerous for patients.
- When can we expect a specific action plan?
I think for the New Year.
Leonid Mikhailovich Pechatnikov
Born in 1956.
In 1979 he graduated from the 1st Moscow Medical Institute.
Pechatnikov spent most of his career as a practicing physician, but was also a professor at the Department of Fundamentals of Pathology and Mathematical Modeling in Medicine at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (from April to June 2001).
Since December 14, 2010 - Minister of the Moscow Government and Head of the Health Department.
Since May 25, 2012 - Deputy Mayor for Issues social development Moscow. According to him, he did not want to become an official, and Sergei Sobyanin twice offered him to take a position in the government.
Business and government
- You have many times called on businessmen to cooperate with state medicine and treat patients free of charge, using the so-called green compulsory health insurance card. Let's take one example: there is a group of companies "MEDSI" , She signed an agreement with the compulsory health insurance fund and invested money in repurposing a hospital in Otradnoye. As a result, MEDSI was not included in the list of medical institutions that were recommended by the Ministry of Health; they do not provide patients with compulsory medical insurance. It turns out that the city still actively supports only its own institutions; the private sector has no opportunity to compete with them.
If you, besides MEDSI, EMC (European Medical Center) and OJSC Medicina, can name me at least one private clinic that deals with hospital medicine, I will be very grateful. As for private clinics, they are very willing to participate in compulsory medical insurance.
- As far as I know, neither MEDSI nor OJSC Medicine entered the compulsory medical insurance system this year.
The problem is that if [private clinics] are included in the compulsory health insurance system, then they must be included in all tariffs: any person can be brought to them by ambulance, and not just those patients who need a well-paid (under some tariffs) compulsory medical insurance health care. I had a similar situation with the Central Clinical Hospital [Central Clinical Hospital], in which they told me: “Don’t bring homeless people from the Kursk station to us. We have a contingent." And private hospitals want to treat only at high rates.
- Do I understand correctly that while the basic tariffs are so low, we won’t see private owners in the compulsory medical insurance system?
Don't know.
- How are payment rates for doctors working in the compulsory medical insurance system currently calculated? Are they greatly underestimated?
In order to live with these tariffs, you need to carry out the very optimization that we took on. Are you asking me if the tariffs are sufficient? I answer you: no, they are not enough. But each state can afford exactly as much as it can.
- How should the hospital survive then?
Due to the intensification of work.
- What does it mean?
For example, if it is possible to operate using the laparoscopic method, then you need to operate this way and not otherwise. If a surgeon does not master this method, he must either learn it or look for another job.
- Will you give compulsory insurance funds subsidies from the city budget?
If we are able to correctly optimize the system today, we will be able to see how much we need. Before today We have always subsidized healthcare and provided direct subsidies.
How do you feel about the fact that the threshold for contributions to the Federal Migration Service is being lifted? The employer will now pay into the Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund from all salaries [in September, the government approved a bill providing for the abolition of the threshold for contributions to the Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund. The formula for contributions to the compulsory medical insurance fund is as follows: the employer pays 5.1% of the subordinate’s salary, not exceeding 624 thousand rubles. in year. Salaries above this amount are subject to the same deduction - as if the employee receives 624 thousand. According to the Ministry of Finance, the lifting of the restriction will increase the budget of the compulsory medical insurance fund by 200 billion rubles.].
I will answer this question with a real case. We were once sitting with Veronica Skvortsova [Minister of Health], and I lit a cigarette. She says: “Are you still smoking?” I answer her: “Since you visited the president and asked that all excise taxes on tobacco go to the health care budget, I smoke exactly twice as much.”
"May Decrees"
By 2018, according to Vladimir Putin’s “May decrees,” doctors’ salaries will need to be increased to 200% of the average salary in the region. How will you do this?
This is a difficult task. But if these decrees had not existed, it is possible that we would have suffered with Soviet system health care for quite a long time.
- And anyway, how are you going to increase doctors’ salaries?
By 2018, we need the average salary of doctors to be approximately 140 thousand rubles. If the system works efficiently, we will solve this problem.
- How?
Due to what we do. By intensifying work, by increasing labor productivity. The whole problem of the USSR and present-day Russia lies in only one thing: our wage growth is significantly faster than the growth of labor productivity. If we do not increase labor productivity, we will not only fail to implement Putin’s decrees, we will completely collapse.
- That is, when we increase labor productivity, we cannot escape from laying off doctors?
In all industries, everything is structured the same: both in healthcare and in industry. Today we have equipped Moscow healthcare in a way that it has never been equipped before. If previously, in order to diagnose a disease, a person had to be hospitalized, today this is not necessary at all. Today, clinics are no worse equipped than hospitals. If this is so, another source dries up and beds are freed up. There is no point in keeping empty beds and staff. Therefore, there is a shortage of doctors in clinics; the entire surplus concerns hospitals. Everyone is provided with jobs, another thing is that we cannot guarantee them workplace by specialty. We cannot provide all urologists. Does this mean unemployment? But we give them the opportunity to retrain at our expense.
Conflict of interest
About the equipment medical equipment: As far as I understand, you have been accused of conflict of interest twice. The first time was when tomographs were purchased at your suggestion. Toshibafor city hospitals from your UMC partners. Did you do this intentionally?
Yes. In the first case, I understood what I would be reproached for. But in 2010, when I joined the department, by that time I had never bought anything from technology, I knew nothing.
- Didn’t you buy anything at the UMC?
I was president and chief physician, but never engaged in economic activities. When I came to the health department and saw the recommended prices, including for tomographs, I realized that it was about three times more expensive than what was bought at the EMC. In general, I decided that this was a mistake. I went to the UMC and said: “Listen, if you bought for yourself for 30, and they recommend it for 90 for me, maybe you can buy for the city for 30”? But, realizing that I would be accused of a conflict of interest, I told Sergei Sobyanin about this [with the arrival of Pechatnikov, the health department acquired new suppliers - Farmadis CJSC, Inoprom-Med LLC and GEL En-Invest LLC. Having examined the history of these SPARK companies, Vedomosti discovered that they are associated with Pechatnikov’s former partners - co-owners of the EMC (European Medical Center CJSC)Igor Shilov, Leonid Shaimanand Lajos Baljer Csaba, as well asVladimir Smagin,business partner of the former EMC supplier].
- That is, Sobyanin knew about this?
My former partners won all the competitions. They agreed on purchases with Toshiba and came out with record low prices. We bought 64-slice computers for 21 million, 80-slice computers were bought, it seems, for 28. I warned the mayor, Igor Artemyev [head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service], about this. I spoke about this with the presidential control department. I told them: “If the participation of the UMC does not cause any allergies to you, then they are ready to participate.” They said that they didn’t care who would sell us computers and MRIs. There is only one task: to bring down this extremely criminalized market.
When in 2013, the building of the 63rd hospital was transferred for a 49-year concession to the same EMC, some, let’s say, members of the medical community said that no one was included in this tender, because everyone understood: the EMC is Pechatnikov’s clinic, she will have preferences.
I can only say that when the UMC came to me with this idea, I said that if they have extra money, I cannot interfere with them. From a business point of view, I considered this idea a losing proposition for them: they paid a billion for the right to concession, and at the same time took upon themselves the obligation to build a new hospital complex for $12.5 million. To build something that won’t even belong to you, you can’t even borrow against it. I found this idea difficult from a business point of view, but I am not that much of a businessman. If they thought it would be beneficial for them, I wish them success.
Will it happen that after some time they will build a hospital that will not accept patients under compulsory medical insurance?
They will be there. The question is different: will these volumes of compulsory medical insurance give them?
- Then the agreement will be violated...
The agreement stipulates that if the city gives them these volumes, they are obliged to accept at least 40% of the compulsory medical insurance.
- And if the city does not provide these volumes...
This means they will do everything for a fee.
- Then it's a good deal.
About the terrible
- Why did you decide to become an official?
I did not decide to become an official; I had no such plans. I refused twice. Ultimately I had to agree.
-Are you happy with how everything turned out?
Today I would rather treat people. I still do this: I consult patients in Moscow hospitals, this is a relaxation for me. In addition, once every two months I conduct anatomical examinations in city clinics, trying not to lose my qualifications.
Will you go and talk to people at the rally “Stop the collapse of Moscow’s healthcare system,” which is scheduled for November 2 on Suvorov Square?
- Why?
I know these people, we talked to them, I understand them very well: they worked in the same system, and today they are told that this will not happen anymore. I feel incredibly sorry for people who are already aged, it is very difficult for them to relearn, I understand them. But the task is to preserve the system. These are emotionally difficult things, but they are moving forward. And if you think I enjoy being called a “health demon,” you’re wrong. Now I often quote my friend Gennady Khazanov, who called me and said: “Lenya, it’s not scary when you are mixed with shit. It’s scary when people confuse you with him.”
Which hospitals are being liquidated?
Photo from zampolit.com
21.09.2018 | 18:18
On September 19, Sergei Sobyanin, re-elected mayor of the capital, announced the composition of the new capital government. Leonid Pechatnikov, one of the most unpopular Moscow officials, was dismissed.
The former chief of staff of the mayor, Anastasia Rakova, was appointed to replace Pechatnikov. She is called the official of the capital government closest to Sobyanin. Rakova has been friends with the mayor since his time as chairman of the KhMAO parliament.
According to RBC's interlocutor at the mayor's office, Pechatnikov himself has allegedly asked to resign for the last two years. Vedomosti broadcasts a different opinion. The newspaper connects Pechatnikov’s resignation and his conflict with Rakova. Political scientist Alexander Pozhalov says that Pechatnikov’s resignation is politically explainable and recalls that this official was a symbol of the “rigid optimization of grassroots medicine,” a very painful process for state employees. As a public figure, Pechatnikov’s statements continually caused outbursts of discontent, so during the election year his presence in the public sphere was reduced to a minimum.
The Infox portal notes that “most of the reforms carried out by Pechatnikov were categorically not accepted by the population.” His innovations in the field of education consisted of transferring schools to a purely economic framework, and schools began to compete with each other in the fight for students and funding. And in the field of medicine, Pechatnikov, according to the authors of the publication, created “the conditions for numerous abuses in government procurement,” which led to a particularly deplorable situation in oncology.
In the Moscow city committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the reshuffle in the Moscow mayor's office was described as an exchange of "sew for soap", and the "formal removal of Leonid Pechatnikov from his position" is considered "a resignation only with a huge stretch." We are talking about Sergei Sobyanin’s intention to leave Pechatnikov “at least as an advisor.” “Muscovites see from their own bitter experience how the “optimization” of the capital’s healthcare has led to a sharp reduction in free medical institutions, the number medical personnel, medical specialists, to the increasing commercialization of this industry. And after this, some people turn their tongues to say that “a lot has been done” for medicine!” says the material published on the Communist Party website.
Leonid Pechatnikov headed the Moscow Health Department in 2010, and two years later he moved to the social bloc of the capital government. Unofficial sources reported that Pechatnikov’s promotion is being promoted by the notorious physician-businessman, shareholder of the European Medical Center (GEMC) group Leonid Shaiman. The official himself subsequently provided Sheiman with serious patronage.
Pechatnikov has repeatedly become involved in various scandals. His name is associated with large-scale layoffs of doctors in the capital and the merger of medical institutions, which started in 2014. The then head of the State Duma Committee on Health Protection, Sergei Kalashnikov, called the Pechtnikov reform “genocide.”
In 2016–2017, Leonid Pechatnikov took an active part in the public conflict between Anatoly Makhson, who was later dismissed from his post as chief physician of the Moscow City Oncology Hospital No. 62 (MGOB No. 62), and the Department of Health. The department issued an order changing the status of the hospital from an autonomous to a budgetary institution, and Makhson sent statements to the FSB and the Investigative Committee with a request to check the purchases of the Moscow Health Department and bring officials to criminal liability. The statement cited examples of the department’s purchases of five oncology drugs and medical equipment, the prices of which were inflated by 217.8 million rubles. Leonid Pechatnikov responded by trying to convict the hospital of illegal business. Later, blogger Stalik Khankishiev joined the scandal, devoting several long messages to the vice-mayor’s personality, which included opinions about large-scale corruption.
Pechatnikov also caused a lot of dissatisfaction among Muscovites with his order to reduce the length of stay in hospitals by half. In 2015-2016, Pechatnikov intervened in a public initiative to rename the Voykovskaya metro station. He, according to many opinions, contributed to the delay and then failure of this undertaking.
In 2017, representatives of the Dissernet community told the medical publication Vademecum that the deputy mayor’s doctoral dissertation was not found in available sources. Representatives of the Central Scientific Medical Library at First Medical Center and the All-Russian Attestation Commission (VAC) also failed to find it. Leonid Pechatnikov said that he defended his doctoral dissertation in France, but it was not found there either.
Last year, Life reported that a Moscow official had paid hackers from the Humpty Dumpty group $10 million to “not publish” his business correspondence, and several experts suggested that it was Pechatnikov.
The personal qualities of the now former Moscow official were also the subject of unflattering publications in the press. In particular, they wrote a lot about how Pechatnikov uses ambulances to avoid traffic jams. Reports were published that he was caught misusing cars with special signals during a traffic police raid on Kutuzovsky Prospekt.
Pechatnikov’s last scandalous statement was made on March 21 of this year. The official said that cancer in the final stages in some Asian countries is treated at the expense of the patient, even if there is a state insurance program, and Russia should adopt this experience. This proposal of the vice mayor caused a storm of criticism and indignation.
Pechatnikov’s resignation, unexpected for most, caused, as we learned, panic in a number of state and private structures controlled and subordinate to him. First of all, we are talking about officials and businessmen in the medical field.
Today, a number of sources disseminated information that in addition to Pechatnikov, another critically unpopular Moscow official, Isaac Kalina, head of the Moscow Department of Education, was also fired. However, this information has not yet been confirmed.
