Volodymyr Groysman: Decentralization and creation of hospital districts are expected to improve the quality of health care institutions in Ukraine

Further decentralization and establishment of hospital districts shall improve the quality of medical services in Ukraine and strengthen the competitiveness of healthcare facilities, announced Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman during a meeting of the National Council of Reform under the President of Ukraine dedicated to considering of the draft medical reform.

The Prime Minister pointed out that the key objective of the reform is the introduction of a principle ‘money follows the patient’, which provides funding for health services, and therefore opens up a choice of where and how to be treated, and guarantees a better quality of medical services.

An additional incentive for the change will become the formation in Ukraine of hospital districts. Efficiency of such model of organization of medical care has been demonstrated by 13 regions that have launched appropriate pilot projects, based on quality of medical services, availability of equipment and experienced doctors capable of curing diseases instead of quantity of hospitals.

The financial part of the issue, according to the Government's head, is provided due to decentralization processes allowing local authorities to invest more in the development of medicine in each particular region.

"Our current objective is to invest in the quality and availability of health care. Decentralization will help in that. Today, billions of hryvnias are in the regions, though these funds can be used. We have already burgeoning examples - local authorities are creating high quality health care institutions", underscored Volodymyr Groysman.