Reform of the Medical and Social Expert Commission plays an important role in reforming the healthcare sector: Denys Shmyhal

In 2025, the budget for healthcare has increased by more than UAH 13.5 billion, while the budget of the medical guarantee programme grew by 10%. Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal announced this during a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on 18 April.

He emphasized that work to reduce prices for medicines and improve their availability for our citizens was underway. According to the Ministry of Health, since late February, there has been a significant decrease in the weighted average retail price for medicines included in the TOP-100 list - by about a 27% reduction.

“Meanwhile, we are actively expanding the Affordable Medicines programme, which allows Ukrainians to receive 600 medicines and medical devices free of charge or with a small surcharge. This year, all pharmacies will join the Affordable Medicines programme,” noted Denys Shmyhal.

Moreover, according to him, the Mobile Pharmacies programme is also constantly scaling up. It now operates in 15 regions, and people in remote villages and frontline regions can get the medicines they need.

The Prime Minister added that a reform of the Medical and Social Expert Commission plays an important role in reforming the healthcare sector.

“The corrupt and bureaucratic system is being replaced by transparency and digitalisation,”stressed the Head of Government adding that more than 1400 expert teams carry out assessments in almost 300 medical institutions, 71,000 doctors work in the electronic system and submit referrals without unnecessary paperwork. He told that in the first three months of the new system's operation, decisions were made in relation to 130,000 of our people.

“We also continue to work on providing our hospitals with the necessary equipment. Last year, medical institutions received more than 100,000 medical devices and modern equipment,” Denys Shmyhal emphasized adding that investment in the reconstruction of hospitals damaged by russian terrorists are leveraged and it resulted into restoring a thousand such medical facilities.