Volodymyr Groysman urges to keep order in public procurement of medicines

We have to keep order in public procurement of medicines in Ukraine. This was stated by Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman on Friday, April 22, during a visit to the state-owned enterprise Ukrmedpostach to mark the receipt of the first batch of medicines for patients with cancer that were purchased as part of the procurement of medicines by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine through international organizations.

"Ukraine has many problems to be addressed. One of them is very important – we have to keep order in public procurement of medicines. Today it’s about providing patients with cancer, especially this concerns children," stated Volodymyr Groysman.

The Prime Minister recalled that, on April 15, during the Question Time to the Government, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine raised the issue of lack of drugs for children with cancer, in response to which the Government adopted operational decisions. In particular, work was conducted with the territories regarding availability and need of medicines. In this context, the Prime Minister thanked the heads of regional state administrations that agreed to solve urgent problems in the regions.

As of today, according to the regional state administrations and regional councils, it was created supply of drugs for one week, said the Prime Minister. It will be enough to stabilize the situation. However, we need a few months in order to align the supply of drugs needed in the regions, emphasized Volodymyr Groysman.

"The most important thing is to organize the work - both the purchase of medicines and supplies so that we had no disruptions, and most importantly, we have to purchase quality drugs at the real price," underlined the Prime Minister.

Volodymyr Groysman informed that the Ministry of Health of Ukraine had introduced a system securing the purchase of drugs through international organizations, which gave 10-90% savings at the purchase prices.

On Wednesday, April 20, the Government decided that pharmaceutical products that had been certified and consumed in the EU, USA, Canada, Switzerland, Japan and Australia, would be admitted to the market of Ukraine without any delay. According to the decision, examination of the documents will take place within 20 days,  stressed Volodymyr Groysman.

The Prime Minister thanked the international partners and the Ministry of Health, and encouraged to provide fast local delivery of drugs.