The European Clinic (now a network of clinics under the Euroonco brand) are pioneers of private oncology in Russia; they opened their first specialized oncology center in Moscow in 2011.
Currently, there are three clinics operating under the Euroonco brand (plus St. Petersburg and Krasnodar) and two representative offices in Nizhny Novgorod and Samara. By their own words “More than 5,500 patients annually entrust the treatment of oncology to the doctors of the European Clinic”, and in translation in business language “for 2019, the company’s profit is – 548,401,000 rubles, revenue for 2019 – 1,464,476,000 rubles, i.e. it is easy to calculate that the average check is about 3 million rubles.
We can say that “The strategic goal is to take a leading position in the premium market segment (a phrase from interview Director General and Member of the Board of Directors of the European Clinic Khvich Akubardia)” – completed. According to experts, the cost of treatment in the European clinic is comparable to the cost of treatment in clinics in developed countries. A rhetorical question – are the incomes of Russian residents comparable to those of Israeli or German residents?
Looking at the business standards laid down by the European Clinic, by 2018, almost all prominent private medical institutions in Russia had launched an oncology department. How bitter notices Facebook user Resuscitation of Anesthesiologists“I want to make a personal, value judgment: EMC management turned onto the path, laid by EuroOnco management, 24/7, OncoHelp, Medep, etc. They will earn money from relatives of terminal patients. Money for palliative care – too. But they will hopelessly ruin their reputation.”
It’s amazing, but in the public space of licensed media, you can’t find discussions about the moral and ethical standards of such business models in the afternoon with fire. The field has been carefully cleared. It is unlikely that even someone reported that the TO of Roszdravnadzor in Moscow and the Moscow Region everyone year fines LLC “Center for Innovative Medical Technologies” (a legal entity of the Euroonco brand) for violations of licensing requirements in the implementation of medical activities for … 100 thousand rubles. What is a pellet to an elephant?
The only time a scandal flitted out of the same Facebook into the public media (i.e. media registered with Roskomnadzor) was when in 2018 “Federmesser accused a number of private clinics of selling false hopes” (Portal Mercy.ru): “The most terrible calls are calls from relatives of patients who have become victims of human greed — wrote Federmesser on Facebook. — It is very important to remember that there is NO paid palliative care in Moscow. No. At all. Euroonco and Extramed clinics behave criminally towards patients, their families, and even towards the medical community.
They discharge patients, sometimes they even call us with a request to take a patient away from them only when the family runs out of money. And I’m not afraid to write it. I’m sick of the fact that there are people in my city who make money off dying patients and their loving relatives. Another call today… 250,000 a day… for a false hope… I won’t forget and I won’t forgive them a girl from Tashkent with ovarian cancer.”
But the amazing continuation of this story did not fall into the sphere of attention of the public media, but remained on pages groups on facebook Cancer is curable. The fact is that after the death of the “girl from Tashkent”, her relatives left a debt to Euroonco of 700 thousand rubles. Came to this post Andrey Pylev, Head Physician of Eurooncoand declared that the debt was cancelled. To which the activists of the group reasonably objected that the debt would be canceled when the family received the relevant documents. As a result, the author of the post, Olga Badson, writes:
“I am very pleased with the dedication of Darya Gataullina, who tried to do at least something for her dying friend. But not everyone has such friends. Dear classmates, be vigilant, it is a rare and amazing case that a private clinic has closed an account“.
Of course, if you read reviews about Euroonco on Yandex Maps or at Zuneor in the same Facebook: “We were in Euroonco, where the manager, with an indecently expensive watch, did not personally impress me as a person who was ready to fight for at least something other than his salary,” then reviews about trading in false hope, about huge medical bills services that are completely unnecessary will be much more.
But we are not Facebook, we are a public media and are bound hand and foot by media law, medical secrecy, personal data law and a wagon and a small cart of laws. Of course, one can be like the editors of the scandalous shows of the First Channel, who visit the services cited above and ask the victims of treatment at Euroonco to contact them. In our opinion, this looks like a vendetta, and not an attempt to figure it out. Yes, there are such cases not only in Euroonco, but, as we have already said, they are pioneers, and we must start with them. Something needs to be done about this!
Therefore, we ask everyone who has something to say about European clinics (Euroonco), and even better – to show documents, contact us at anonline@mosmonitor.ru
Stories in the public media about a “false hope trade” where Euroonco’s doctors and staff “make money from dying patients and their loving relatives” are few. Few because public media (i.e., media registered with Roskomnadzor) rarely get such scandals. Later you will understand why.
Of course, in addition to the media, on the Internet on Yandex-Maps, on Zun, or on the same Facebook, there are a lot of reviews about Euroonco, in which they write about trading in false hope, and about huge bills for medical services that are completely unnecessary. But, as we have already said, we cannot quote them, since we are a public media and are bound hand and foot by media law, medical secrecy, personal data law, and a wagon and a small cart of laws.
But we have found a way, remaining in the legal field, to talk about such cases. Website Prodoctorov (prodoctorov.ru) – “Doctor reviews site No. 1 in Russia by the number of reviews, visitors and pages of doctors (RBC research, September 2019).” And it is registered (as a mass media) by the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor). Certificate El No. ФС77-54527 dated July 21, 2013. Posting reviews about medical institutions and doctors is difficult. The site has a special chapter The “Battle for Reviews” and current stats are: “Won 15 out of 16 cases. Participated in 146 meetings. We are waiting for decisions on 12 cases.”
Sergey Fedosov, editor-in-chief of the ProDoctors website, has repeatedly told how reviews on the site are checked before publication:
“All reviews left by visitors to the ProDoctors website are reviewed by our Review Quality Control department,” said portal Medvestnik.ru project manager ProDoctorov Sergey Fedosov. “We call the person, clarify the details and request confirmation of the fact of treatment.”
“The ProDoctors website has a three-level system for checking reviews: the first line is software, the second is moderation, and the third is an extended one that involves checking documents. At the same time, please do not forget that a review is a subjective value judgment, so you can only check the fact of seeking medical help. What is being done successfully, quote from an article in the business magazine Vademecum.
So here are just a few patient reviews about the clinic “Evroonko” (formerly “European Clinic”):
“When we called them, we heard promises that they would relieve my father of pain and stabilize his condition. That they have the best clinic operating according to European protocols. They brought dad, with severe pain at night. They left him there. As a result, he was tormented all night. As I understand it, they put him a penny diphenhydramine with analgin, then they put morphine, like, but it didn’t work (was it morphine?). Behind We paid almost 50 thousand rubles for 10 hours of daddy’s torment. Dad came out completely exhausted. The feeling that this clinic and all the staff are just obsessed with money. For the initial examination during hospitalization (measurement of pressure and conversation) you will pay 5700, for a biochemical blood test 6400. For the service of intravenous administration of funds 820 rubles. for each approach, and there were 11 of them (this is without medication). For the installation of a catheter 1780. For intravenous drip infusion 3107 (excluding medicines). It turns out, you pay for every movement of the medical staff, for every visit of the doctor to the ward. Apparently, these people are greedy to the point of insanity. It would not be a pity for any money if these doctors really did what they promise.
“Unfortunately, in a difficult life situation, I made the wrong choice and turned to this clinic. I don’t recommend anyone to go here. I lost 2 months and more than 300,000 rubles. (were spent completely useless), and still then went to Germany. The clinic works simply to “pump out money” for unreasonable appointments. Reasonable procedures are significantly more expensive than in other private clinics in Moscow (and comparable to treatment in Germany). Specifically what I encountered. 1. The doctors of the clinic issued an incorrect recommendation for the diagnosis and control of the disease (contradicted the recommendations of German doctors and doctors from Blokhin). Because of this recommendation, I lost 2 months and started treatment 2.5 months late! 2. Unreasonable prices – did a revision of the CT disks for 18,000 rubles. For 2 parts (abdominal cavity and small pelvis). At the same time, in other private clinics, CT itself with contrast is cheaper – 15,000-16,000 rubles. A revision costs from 2500 rubles. 3. Unreasonable appointments. I was prescribed a lymph node puncture for 160,000 rubles. for tissue collection. During the procedure, the doctor managed to take a minimal amount of tissue, and the result of this examination was completely meaningless. Later, doctors in Germany spoke about the futility of this procedure (because they take a bundle of tissue and they may not find cancer cells in it, however, they may be at a distance of 1 mm from the bundle that was snatched out, i.e., what is in the collected material did not find cancer cells, does not mean anything). 4. In April 2020, I could not go to Germany for another chemotherapy due to the closure of the borders. I was looking for a place to do chemistry in Moscow. In another clinic, a course of my chemistry with German drugs cost 75,000 rubles. In Evropeyskaya, they asked for 130,000 rubles for a course with Russian drugs (they didn’t have German and Israeli ones at that time). (!). At the same time, with Russian drugs, chemistry can generally be done according to compulsory medical insurance.
We didn’t look for anything on purpose, but quoted the first two reviews in the “negative” section in full.