Insurance-based medical care to be introduced in Ukraine by 2019, - Health Ministry

Ukraine’s Health Ministry plans to complete healthcare reform by the end of 2018.

As reported by Censor. NET, Acting Minister of Health of Ukraine Ulana Suprun said Thursday that Ukrainian government had given consideration to a package of documents needed to kick off healthcare reform in the country.

Among other things, the healthcare system overhaul proposed by the government will completely change the healthcare sector funding system. Its main goal is to create insurance-funded medical care system. It is assumed that the new system will be fully operational in 2019.

The government introduces payments to hospitals and private clinics for providing certain medical care for specific people at the expense of insurance contributions made by the citizens.

"We already have a concept for 2016, and based on this concept we have drafted a bill that reflects healthcare sector funding reform," Acting Health Minister Ulana Suprun told a briefing.

The senior official said the government had already adopted several decrees tackling availability of medicines. The medicines availability program is to be expanded annually.

The main goal of the reform is to prevent the patients from paying for medical services to a doctor off the books. The compulsory package of state-guaranteed free-of-charge medical services will be adopted for this purpose. This principle will be first of all applied to primary and emergency medical care.

Deputy Health Minister Roman Ilyk expressed confidence that Ukraine would adopt the National List of Essential Medicines in the near future, which will provide medications for diabetics, asthmatics and heart disease sufferers.

"Free medicines shall guarantee the patients protection," he said.