The second stage of medical reform starts in a timely fashion and from April 1, Ukrainians will receive a guaranteed package of free medical services, and salaries of doctors will be raised. This was said by Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Honcharuk at a briefing at the Government House.

"The second stage of medical reform should start in a month. It will result in increase of salaries for some doctors up to 30%. And most importantly for the Ukrainians - there will be free medicine for some services that are included in the guaranteed package of services," Oleksiy Honcharuk emphasized.

The Prime Minister stressed that a decision had already been taken to revise the network of hub hospitals, which had been planned for a long time and did not take into account the actual calculations.

"National Health Service of Ukraine (NHSU) has all the necessary figures to calculate the network needed. The meetings will be held on this issue. Therefore, concerns about the closure of hospitals have not been confirmed. Of course, no one will close such objects", the Head of Government said.

Oleksiy Honcharuk emphasized that the budget of the Medical Guarantee Program for specialized medical care was increased by UAH 9 billion in comparison with last year's subvention and the health care budget in 2020 was increased by 13% compared to 2019.

Background

The medical reform is targeted to change the system of funding of health care and to ensure the patient receives truly free, safe and high-quality medical care, and money from the budget is used efficiently and a principle "money follows the patient" is applied to those medical institutions and to doctors chosen by the patient.

The first stage of the reform started on April 1, 2018, when a campaign to select a primary care physician (family doctor, therapist, pediatrician) was announced. Since July, "money followed the patient" has been used to these doctors.

More than 29 million citizens gave already chosen a doctor.

Patients received guaranteed free primary care physician assistance (unlimited physician consultation, free baseline tests and tests (general blood tests, clinical urine tests, electrocardiogram, blood pressure measurements, rapid pregnancy tests, viral hepatitis, HIV), and medical facilities for more funding, This is a subvention, which has made it possible to invest in the development of the institution, increase salaries for doctors, and provide additional services for patients.

The second phase of transformations will start on April 1, 2020. "Money follows the patient" principle will be applied to polyclinics and hospitals. The NHSU will pay for the provision of medical care to a patient at a hospital or a specialist or undergoing a diagnosis.

For the first time in Ukraine, a program of medical guarantees will be introduced - this is a clear list of medical services that a person will be able to get guaranteed for free.

The free package includes consultations of specialists, treatment at hospitals and outpatient clinics, as well as medications and supplies for this.