Acting Health Minister Ulana Suprun regained her ministerial powers after losing them for more than a week, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine announced on Feb. 14.
Sergei Karakashian, the same Kyiv District Administrative Court judge who on Feb. 5 issued a ruling to strip Suprun of her powers, canceled his decision after three days of deliberation.
“The court upheld the petitions of the representatives of the Cabinet of Ministers and Ulana Suprun to cancel the measures taken to secure the (previous) claim,” said Karakashian.
However, only one battle has been won, not the war.
On Feb. 15, the court will start consideration of the case on its merits. The court has up to thirty days to consider the substance of the case, according to administrative code of litigation.
The lawsuit against Suprun was filed by Ihor Mosiychuk, a lawmaker from the Radical Party of Oleh Lyashko. Mosiychuk said that Suprun held dual citizenship, which is prohibited in Ukraine, and had been in office for more than the maximum one-month period allowed for being an acting minister.
The U.S.-born Suprun returned to Ukraine on the eve of the EuroMaidan revolution, and has been involved in reforming Ukraine’s health care system since July 27, 2016, when she was appointed acting health minister by Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers.
With her powers returned, Suprun can start signing vital documents authorizing the delivery of medicines, vaccines, and medical equipment across the country. For the week Suprun was banned from authorizing such deliveries, supplies of drugs, some of which have very short shelf lives of only to 21 days, started to build up in warehouses.
“This morning I already started to sign documents, and medicines are being taken to the regions,” Suprun told journalists at a short briefing after the court upheld her appeal. “I have also already signed papers for patients who need to be treated abroad.”
The U.S.-born Suprun returned to Ukraine on the eve of the EuroMaidan revolution, and has actively providing Ukraine’s health care reforms since July 27, 2016, when she was appointed as acting minister by Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers.
