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For the first time in many years the state has substantially improved the supply of medicines in all directions. Through efficient purchasing through international hospitals, hospitals are 100% provided with drugs in 12 areas. The Available drugs program is working and expanding - millions of Ukrainians have access to quality drugs free of charge or with a small additional charge in every third drugstore in Ukraine. Today, at the expanded meeting chaired by Prime Minister Volodymyr Groisman, the leadership of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, along with representatives of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, the Ministry of Justice and regional health departments, the medical community, patient and anti-corruption organizations, reported on this today. How does the state provide Ukrainians with medicines now? Ukraine provides citizens with medicines in several areas - government procurement through international organizations and the Available Medication program. Free medicines are available in Ukrainian hospitals. Thanks to the purchase of medicines through international organizations, we managed to completely exclude corruption and at the same time negotiate special low prices for Ukraine. On the savings we buy much more of the necessary drugs, that is, more Ukrainians receive the necessary treatment from the state , - stressed v.o. Minister of Health Dr. Ulana Suprun. Thanks to the effective procedures of international procurement of medicines and medical equipment for the first time in 7 years, Ukraine is fully provided with vaccines in accordance with the national vaccine calendar. In addition, this year, Ukraine is for the first time providing 100% of hospital requests to ensure a sufficient number of drug-free people for 12 programs, including HIV tests, a range of drugs for the treatment of childhood oncology, half dialysis medications, medicines for children, patients on nasmus of various origins, oncorreagents, blood donation, cerebral palsy, drugs for transplantation. The Available medicines program, which began in April last year, and today, every third pharmacy in Ukraine is now releasing remedies in full or in part free of charge. During the program, patients received medications for over 21 million recipes worth almost 1 billion USD. There are currently 239 drugs available for the program, 47 of which are completely free for patients. We would like to see each pharmacy in the program. And this is the responsibility of the local authorities - to make the Available medicines, guaranteed by the state, really accessible and available , - said v.o. Minister of Health Dr. Ulana Suprun. Ukraine has also implemented the National List of Drugs - Drugs from the diseases that Ukrainians most often suffer from. Hospitals have to buy them 100%. The national list includes 427 safe and actually working active substances from all widespread diseases - it is more than a thousand drugs from different manufacturers who will buy hospitals. All this will be free of charge for patients undergoing hospital care. Find out the availability of prescription drugs is very easy thanks to the mobile application Medications.Control, where patients can check if they can get medication free of charge. Often, the availability of drugs in a specific hospital, district, or oblast depends on local authorities and regional health departments. It is important that health care establishments are properly assessed and promptly transfer the real need for medicines. Only this way the MOH will be able to effectively plan purchases. Already, the regions have the opportunity to redistribute medicines and vaccines without the consent of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, so the regions can quickly give surplus medicines to another region where there is a shortage. How will the supply of medicines change after the transformation of the healthcare system? Medicines and medical products currently procured by the Ministry of Health are centralized or provided at the oblast level - an integral part of the health care system in Ukraine. Those drugs and products that have been included in state programs over the past 10 years should be part of the state guarantees that the Government of Ukraine will provide in the primary, secondary or tertiary care unit in the framework of the transformation of the health financing system over the next years. . In order to improve the provision of Ukrainian drugs, the Available drugs program will be expanded by including a part of state programs in it. A part of medical products and medicines will be included in the price of the service, which will be set by the National Health Service of Ukraine. In addition, the state will continue to purchase medicines for a number of strategic programs (vaccination, infectious diseases, etc.). Such procurement will be carried out by the Procurement Agency. Currently, we are developing mechanisms that will allow step by step and logically to integrate 40 programs of public procurement of medicines into the process of transformation of the health care system - both primary, and secondary and tertiary care. The key task of further reforming the system of public procurement of medicines is to preserve all the best practices of international organizations and not return to the old corrupt procurement mechanism. For this purpose, the newly established Procurement Agency should have the same benefits as already enshrined in the procurement legislation through international organizations, said Olga Stefanyshina, Deputy Minister of Health. |
