Former Chairman of the Kursk Region Health Committee Given a Suspended Sentence

The court also prohibited Elena Palferova from holding positions related to the exercise of organizational and administrative powers in the civil service and in local government bodies for two years.

The court found that, as the head of the Health Committee, Elena Palferova failed to take "timely measures" to purchase vital drugs for patients with severe chronic diseases, including the disabled. The former official also allegedly purchased drugs without taking into account the needs of citizens entitled to preferential provision of drugs. Therefore, the drugs were not in demand and were destroyed after their expiration date, and the damage to the regional budget, according to the Investigative Committee's calculations, amounted to 24 million rubles.

The case was opened on the basis of materials from a prosecutor's inspection of the implementation of legislation on the provision of medicines to certain categories of citizens.

Elena Palferova took up the post of the head of the Health Committee in September 2019. In October 2021, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko visited the Kursk Region, where he criticized Palferova's work on electronic document management. Murashko pointed out that funding for maintaining such a system had already been allocated, and the use of paper document management by health workers was a "waste of time." At the same time, he noted the low level of vaccination of the population in the region. A few days after Murashko's criticism, Elena Palferova left her post of her own free will.