Thalassemia Center did not deceive families of sick children. Interior Ministry is investigating deception of desperate parents

Baku/05.04.23/Turan: On the third of April, about ten parents of children with thalassemia gathered at the Thalassemia Center to demand from the state the return of the money taken from them in this Center. The parents informed about the doctor of this Center, Aynur Ismayilova, who mediated and organized meetings with the director of "UrmedHelp", Nurida Seyidova, who pledged to provide treatment for Azerbaijani children in Turkey on the basis of signed contracts.

In 2022, children with thalassemia, as indicated in the photocopy of the contract available in the editorial office, were planned to be treated at the Turkish Antalya Medical Park Hospital. There is a video in which the parent of a sick 7-year-old Intigam Alizadeh - Gunay Agayeva transfers 25.000 manats to Seyidova. Then Agayeva paid $ 300 to send the biomaterial of the sick child to Turkey for analysis. During the conversation, Seyidova explained that the treatment costs 80.000 dollars, of which 30% are paid by parents, and the remaining 70% are paid by patrons.

Other parents tell similar stories. As Aynur Ismayilova told Turan, they have 34 parents in their group, of which 25 people paid 20, 10, 50.000, 15.000 in manats and dollars, everyone was told that most of the cost of treatment fell on replacing a diseased bone marrow with a healthy one - donor is paid by anonymous patrons. Some parents were hurried with the payment as saying that by the date of the Victory Day (Zəfər Bayramı) the children should be sent to Turkey.

The aunt of the sick boy, 8-year-old Nizami Hajily - Mansuba Hajiyeva gave Nurida Seyidova 10.000 dollars, and she was told about the full cost of treatment - 83.000 dollars. The date of the trip was specified - June 2022. Even a meeting was organized with a Turkish doctor, in the office of the deputy chief physician of the Thalassemia Center, in the presence of the mediator Aynur Bayramova. She introduced herself to her parents as a representative of the Turkish clinic Medical Park Hospital. Mansuba Hajiyeva keeps a payment receipt and an agreement with "UrmedHelp" on the treatment of the children.

Not a single child from this group was sent to Turkey, the money was not returned to the parents. After the parents' complaint to the department for combating organized crime of the Interior Ministry Nurida Seyidova, who took the money, was arrested for 4 months of imprisonment at the Kurdakhany detention center. Ayinur Bayramova tells the parents that she did not accept money, she only introduced families to Seyidova. The Thalassemia Center declares non-participation in these transactions. This response caused anger of the parents, since, according to Gunay Agayeva, the meeting with Aynur Bayramova and the Turkish doctor (Akif Yeshil Ipek) was held in the building of the Thalassemia Center, in the office of the deputy chief physician.

According to the mother of the sick girl Fatima Abdullayeva - Aysel Abdullayeva, Aynur Bayramova herself personally, in the presence of Akif Yeshil Ipek, took blood for analysis from her daughter, and this happened on the second floor, the office room of the Thalassemia Center on June 30. And the Abdullayevs family gave 12.000 dollars to Aynur at the "Chinar Plaza" hotel in Baku.

Then, when the scam was revealed, Turkish citizen Akif Yeshil Ipek denied his cooperation with A. Bayramova as saying that he knew her as the mother of a sick child treated by him.

In February last year, Aynur forced all parents to issue passports for themselves and their children in order to leave for Turkey soon. Parents spent money on issuing passports urgently.

Parents were told that several sick Azerbaijani children had already been cured in the Turkish clinic. However, from the conversation with the parents, it turned out that they were not familiar with the families whose children were cured. Perhaps, idle talks about successful procedures in Turkey were a publicity stunt to deceive parents.

The Ministry of Health of Azerbaijan sent Turan for an official response to the Thalassemia department of the National Center of Hematology and Transfusiology (Thalassemia Center for short), to the press service of this state medical institution created on the initiative of the Aliyev Foundation. An official response came from the Center to Turan. It says that the Thalassemia Center has nothing to do with Ayinur Bayramova and Nurida Seyidova, these persons do not work at the Center, and the department did not accept money from dissatisfied citizens, nor signed contracts with them. And they have known a Turkish doctor named Akif for many years as an experienced specialist, they received him in their building, there is no information about the illegal actions of Turkish colleagues in the Center.

"I have repeatedly warned parents not to pay, nor trust unknown people who promise to cure children. We understand that desperate parents are ready for anything for the sake of their beloved children. However, the Thalassemia Center has nothing to do with what happened. Our employees are not involved in the investigation," said a representative of the Center, who wished to remain anonymous.

It should be remembered that dissatisfied parents and their children are registered in the Thalassemia Center, the children were treated there on the basis of the state program. According to the parents' complaint, the investigation is ongoing, the Thalassemia Center provides assistance to the investigation," the response says.