The Medical Guarantees Program will be triggered from April 1, 2020. The Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the National Health Service of Ukraine (NHSU) are currently working with the regions to launch the reform in a timely fashion. Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk announced during a conference call with the leadership of Regional State Administrations.

"In order to launch a full-fledged start of the second stage of the medical reform, all regions had to carry out autonomisation and computerization of health facilities by January 31. Hospitals should be equipped with the necessary equipment, medicines, as well as have qualified medical staff. This should be accomplished by April 1," the Prime Minister said.

Oleksiy Honcharuk added that if the medical facility does not meet the requirements, thus the NHSU will not ink an agreement with such an institution - therefore the hospital will not receive funding. In this case, the local government will allocate funding for this medical institution.

At present, 97% of the medical establishments were automized

The most problematic region is Zaporizhzhya. There, the autonomization makes up 85%. For example, as of February 5, all key regional entities are not autonomized.

The situation with the level of computerization and informatization of secondary and tertiary medical care is less encouraging

Five regions fulfilled the computerization plan only by 50%- Luhansk (48%), Kharkiv (55%), Kyiv (55%), Sumy (56%), Zaporizhzhya (56%).

The PM instructed the heads of these regions to take steps to provide computer equipment to medical facilities that provide specialized medical care.

He also commissioned the head of Zaporizhzhya Regional State Administration to speed up the process of autonomization in the region. And if the medical institutions are not able to finish the process autonomization in time and cannot conclude an agreement with the NHSU by April 1, then he recommended local authorities to provide funding for such institutions until the contract of hospitals with the NHSU is concluded.

What does the Medical Guarantees Program include?

In 2020, a guaranteed package of medical services is introduced, which encompasses:

primary care,

emergency care,

outpatient clinic -  the services of a specialist doctor to whom a family doctor sent;

inpatient care;

palliative care - treatment of incurable diseases (anaesthesia, assistance to families of patients, life support, care of the patient);

medical rehabilitation;

childbirth care;

reimbursement for medical expenses ("Available medicines").

All services under the guaranteed medical package will be completely free of charge for Ukrainians, they have already paid for medical assistance from their taxes.