'Our objective in healthcare sector is to reform the system and to increase life expectancy' Volodymyr Groysman

The reform of the health care system is aimed to create such a self-sustaining system that will provide an opportunity to improve the quality of medical services, working conditions of doctors and medical education. Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman said at a meeting with students and academic staff of Bukovyna State Medical University in Chernivtsi.

"We must determine the path of change, we must have a detailed discussion. But we have a challenge which is to transform our health care sector into a self- sustaining system, which would give us an opportunity, first, to prevent disease, increase life expectancy of Ukrainian citizens, to provide a chance for Ukrainian doctors to get competitive wages and it is crucial to ensure that the institutions that provide possibilities for acquiring medical education offer top quality of education. These are the challenges we are facing," stressed Volodymyr Groysman.

He noted that recently the Cabinet had approved the developed by a new team of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine concept of the health care reform, containing a number of innovations. The transition to the new system will first affect the primary care sector, and aftermath secondary, and highly specialized.

Within the scope of the reform there is envisaged the change of financing. Funds will be allocated to provide health services to each particular citizen “instead of financing walls of hospitals and beds".

"There is the need to finance specific health services. We must transfer to autonomy for medical institutions, to ensure each particular health service financed for each particular person," he stressed.

"Person wants to receive a specific service – applies to the institution, receives this service – the state pays for it,” explained Volodymyr Groysman. “Then we will have a competition, then we will have quality, normal wages for doctors and the development of logistics base".

Speaking about the planned changes, Volodymyr Groysman noted that in the framework of the universal national health insurance it is envisaged to introduce a national insurance operator. Doctors will have a free choice of where to work: to be a hired employee, to open his/her own practice, to rent an office and to administer a database of their patients. In turn, it’s the right of each patient to find a doctor for himself whom he trusts.

Under the adopted by the Government decisions, from 1 April 2017 there will come in effect a reference pricing system and from January 1 – a mechanism of reimbursement for drugs to cure cardiovascular diseases, diabetes type II and bronchial asthma, so there will be ensured fair prices for medicines in Ukraine.

In the draft budget for 2017 the Government has envisaged 150 million for the establishment of centers for cardiovascular surgery in the cities of the country. A resource for the purchase of medicines has been upped by UAH2 billion and amounted UAH 5.9 billion in total. The Government will continue the procurement of medicines through international organizations.

Earlier, the Parliament supported a Government’s initiative aimed to simplify the registration of medicines in Ukraine, produced in the EU, the U.S.A., Canada, Japan, Australia and Switzerland.

At the same time it is planned to increase the salaries of medical workers in 2017, said Volodymyr Groysman.

"We want to improve the quality of medicines, to ensure fairness in pricing, to launch a system of compensation for the provision of medicines for the citizens. This is our investment in the health and quality of life," he summed up.