Hundreds of people gathered in front of Kyiv District Administrative Court on Feb. 11 chanting “Shame, shame, shame!” as acting Health Minister Ulana Suprun challenged an effort to strip her of her ministerial powers.
The chants were directed at the person who had sued for the removal of Suprun’s powers – Ihor Mosiychuk, a lawmaker from the Radical Party of Oleh Lyashko.
The court was hearing Suprun’s appeal against a ruling it made on Feb. 5 to ban her from exercising her powers. The case judge said the court was imposing the ban because Suprun had exceeded the maximum one-month period allowed for being an acting minister. Suprun has been in the role since 2016.
The appeal is being considered by the same judge who made the initial ruling – Sergei Karakashian.
During the hearing, Suprun begged the judge to unblock the supply of medicines across Ukraine, which she said has been halted because she cannot exercise her powers.
“Only the minister can sign a permit for the delivery of drugs in Ukraine,” Suprun said. “More than 600 million drugs are in our warehouses and we want to bring them to people. Some of them have a very short expiration date. We need you to unlock it. That’s all.”
After three hours, Karakashian went to the deliberation room. When he emerged, it was to announce that there would be no decision on the appeal today.
“Most likely, it will happen tomorrow,” the judge said.
The U.S.-born Suprun returned to Ukraine on the eve of the EuroMaidan protests, and has been in charge of Ukraine’s health care reforms since July 27, 2016, when she was appointed as acting minister by Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers.
Lawyers have argued that the court’s ruling to strip Suprun of her powers is unjustified, as she was appointed to her post directly by the Cabinet of Ministers, and that order by the government is still legally in force.
