The latest ‘court hearing’ in Russia’s trial of Pavlo Hryb lasted all of two minutes on 18 February.  Neither the prosecutor nor the interpreter had turned up in what was clearly a planned move to prevent Hryb’s doctor publicly spelling out how Russia is placing the young man’s life in jeopardy

The suspension of Acting Health Minister Ulyana Suprun has been viewed by many as an attack on an important reformer and “overt attempt to disrupt medical reform in Ukraine”

Only a month after the Russian prison authorities finally allowed Pavlo Hryb to receive the medication that he needs for a potentially life-threatening medical condition, the medicines have disappeared while the 20-year-old was being moved between remand prison

Asan Chapukh is in such poor health that a hunger strike could immediately place his life in danger, yet the 65-year-old veteran of the Crimean Tatar national movement has been left no alternative

The European Court of Human Rights has responded swiftly to Ukraine’s request for urgent measures under Rule 39 regarding the state of health of four Ukrainian political prisoners: Volodymyr Balukh; Stanislav Klykh; human rights activist Emir-Usein Kuku and Serhiy Lytvynov.  The move is very welcome, however the number of political prisoners, especially in occupied Crimea, whose very life Russia is jeopardizing is much higher.

Kabir Mohammad, a Ukrainian citizen originally from Afghanistan, was held prisoner in Russian-occupied Crimea for a year because a person with a different name but same country of origin was on Interpol’s wanted list. He remains a hostage to this insane situation with his life now placed in grave danger.

Ulana Suprun is a woman on a mission. The 53-year-old radiologist from New York who was appointed Ukraine’s Acting Minister of Health in July is determined to shake up Ukraine’s sclerotic health care system

Following decades of neglect, there is real progress in Ukraine’s healthcare sector. Thanks to the efforts of reformers in the Ministry of Health, pressure from civil society, and the support of international donors, the sector is seeing reduced corruption and clear prospects for reform

One of the many Ukrainian prisoners forcibly moved to Russia after the latter invaded and occupied Crimea has died in a Russian prison, with the Russian authorities having ignored even the European Court of Human Rights

In a case supported by the Kharkiv Human Rights Group’s Strategic Litigation Fund, the European Court of Human Rights has unanimously found that Ukraine violated an inmate’s rights through the substandard conditions in which he was held and lack of proper medical care, as well as through his initially unregistered detention

There are shortages of even the most basic medicines in Donetsk pharmacies and clinics, and doctors are being ‘paid’ partially through food parcels

A positive precedent has been created in Kharkiv with a case thrown out after the lawyer demonstrated that the police had fabricated the evidence. Over 15 thousand people end up in prison each year because the police, wanting good ‘statistics’, go for people over possession of tiny amounts of narcotics or plant the drugs themselves

As many as 20 people who were being treated for heroin addiction in the Ukrainian region of Crimea have died since the Black Sea peninsula was annexed by Russia in March.. Dozens more have left the region for other parts of Ukraine in a bid to continue methodone treatment

The medical service stresses that the law enforcement officers’ actions against volunteers providing medical aid to wounded activists were unacceptable and in breach of the Geneva Convention

Better than any legal commentary about the Russian look-alike attempt to stigmatize NGOs as “foreign agents” is this account from a father whose son’s leukemia and that suffered by other children could be treated thanks to help from abroad

International AIDS Day, December 1 - is not just an occasion to emphasize the living conditions and the prevalence of the AIDS epidemic in Ukraine. The necessarily is arising to ask more critical question – how do HIV-positive people feel and whether are their rights protected?

Over the last 5 years, despite the gravity of the problem, 5 anti-tuberculosis units have been closed. Each was supposedly closed “for repairs” but never opened again. There are fears that the unit for patients with the most severe form of the disease will also not reopen

HIV-positive patients at the Lavra Clinic on the territory of the Kyiv Pecherska Lavra are continuing their protest begun dramatically on 12 September when some of the patients handcuffed themselves to beds in the outpatient department

A special ambulance brigade has been created in Severodonetsk (Luhansk oblast) for providing strong painkillers and similar palliative treatment for terminally ill patients in their own homes.

The Cabinet of Ministers has adopted a new State Strategy on Drugs up till 2020. The strategy envisages increasing criminal liability for distribution of drugs in large quantities. One important move planned is to increase the number of pharmacies that can hold strong medication, at present often not available to cancer patients, people needing palliative care