Medical reform “Made in Ukraine” – the experiment with the closure of hospitals is gaining momentum
Andrey Dotsenko – entrepreneur, founder of the NGO “Foundation for Innovative Development”, chairman of the ICF “MANUS DEI”, head of the company “Sky Building”
When the medical reform was launched last year, there were high hopes that the situation in this area would improve significantly – we all understand that the existing model of medical care has not been viable for a long time and needs a radical transformation.
Medicine occupies a special place in our life. There are people who, for example, never go to court, so they do not care what exactly has changed in the judicial system during the reform process, and why there are now two Supreme Courts in the country.
But there are no people who can live without medical assistance and do not seek help from doctors: even if a person has enough money and opportunities, he does not always have time to go abroad, to Germany or Israel in an emergency, in order to get quality medical care. And why would they want to? Developed, timely and affordable medicine should be available in Ukraine – this is the right of every citizen.
While someone is talking about the salaries of doctors, the number of signed declarations and other issues of the primary organization, there are much more important problems – in some cases, as a result of the reform, departments are disbanded and entire hospitals are closed.
For more than a month, a loud scandal connected with the dismissal of doctors at Okhmatdet and the possible closure of the bone marrow transplantation department has been discussed. Parents of children who are in the hospital after transplantation are rightly worried that they may be left without medical assistance and their children will die.
Think about the essence of the problem: while someone is looking for the causes of the current situation, manipulating public opinion and using all kinds of methods of influence, sick children suffer. I think there should not be such precedents in a morally healthy and civilized society, doctors are obliged to fulfill the Hippocratic oath and treat patients.
The second argument, which is called the main cause of the scandal, is corruption in the branches. But why in a country where the fight against untidiness in all spheres has been a TOP topic for many years and a lot of anti-corruption committees have been created, corruption is still the main problem? And why do patients suffer from this?
While helping medical institutions, both Kiev and regional, in different regions of Ukraine, I faced with the fact that the threat of closure hung over both regional hospitals and specialized ones. In addition to “Okhmatdet”, the Ukrainian Medical Center for Rehabilitation of Children with Organic Damage to the Nervous System of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine is concerned about the future of their patients.
Scandals around the dismissal of doctors at the National Cancer Institute are not abating in the media, and doctors from remote district hospitals are reasonably afraid of becoming “unemployed.”
All this works against medical reform and its acceptance by the population, because it does not provide intelligible answers to the most pressing questions for people: who will make the correct diagnosis? How long will it take to get to the nearest hospital?
Will it provide timely and competent medical care? What tests and analyzes will you have to pay for? How much money will it cost if you get sick?
According to statistics, in 2017, there were 1,700 hospitals in Ukraine, while in 2012 their number was 2,500. The number of hospital beds also decreased by almost a third.
The numbers speak for themselves – even if we take into account the rapidly declining population and make an inevitable error in the statistics.
In order not to aggravate the situation around the stages of reform, not only the population, but also the medical workers themselves, need clear comments, explanations and a detailed plan for further steps from the leaders of the Ministry of Health.
In my understanding, medical reform is a change in the system as a whole, a change in views and approaches. First of all, it is the strategy, program and systemic vision of the reform. Secondly, a timely, competent and balanced information and explanatory policy at absolutely all levels. Thirdly – modern equipment in the required quantity, which doctors know how to work with; wards with the necessary conditions and operating rooms with the necessary equipment.
And the main thing is the absence of corruption schemes, high-profile scandals with dismissals of medical workers and various manipulations, which completely ruin the very idea of reorganizing domestic medicine!
Because officials, the media and the public simply forget that behind loud statements on paper and declarations are the lives of people, ordinary citizens.
Those 95 percent of the total population of Ukraine who do not have the financial ability to take their sick children abroad and give them a chance for surgical treatment. And – a chance for life.