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Their goal is to understand, together with experts, government officials and the medical sector, why medical reform is taking place with such difficulties for doctors and patients, and what changes should be made so that we finally receive high-quality, timely and affordable medicine. So it would work for the benefit of Ukrainians of all social levels, and would not be another manifestation of populism.

The first thing I paid attention to when trying to answer the question of what awaits medicine in the new 2019 year is the state budget. Compared to 2018 UAH 3.4 billion more has been allocated for the health care system of Ukraine – a total of UAH 95.7 billion, which is 3.8% of GDP. The example of European countries says that the required amount is 5-7%.

Next year, 6.6 billion hryvnyas are provided for centralized procurement of drugs in the budget, which is 626 million hryvnias. more than this year. Only UAH 1 billion has been allocated for the Affordable Medicines program, of which 250 million is a subvention to local budgets, and 750 million are the expenses of the National Health Service of Ukraine (NHSU) for the administration of this program from April 1, 2019.

UAH 2 billion has been allocated for the Free Diagnostics program. Medical subvention in 2019 will be UAH 58.5 million. For the purchase of angiographic equipment (examination of blood vessels) UAH 150 million were allocated.

Frankly, the numbers scare me, since it is clear that they are not enough to ensure the health care system. Despite the fact that every year the budget for medicine increases with the inflation rate, it is extremely difficult to notice improvements and targeted use of funds.From my own experience, I know that there are countless needs in any hospital: from consumables and blood analyzers, to video fibrocolonoscopes, ultrasound diagnostic systems and tomographs.

There is one more thing that bothers me: the government is not afraid to create additional structures and spend considerable funds on their maintenance, but for some reason is not ready to invest money in medicine itself: in providing hospitals with equipment, medicines, repairs, training qualified personnel, and so on. Moreover, the reform, which started in 2017, will have irreversible processes. Therefore, our common task today is to supplement the reform with those mechanisms thanks to which it will be able to work evenly throughout the country and provide everything that is necessary to patients and doctors.

Having visited many cities this year – Vinnitsa, Sumy, Ternopil, Kiev, regional centers of Rivne, Zhytomyr and Kiev regions supplying equipment to hospitals and making repairs in departments, I get the impression that the government , represented by the authorities, does not understand what in fact, the situation is in operating rooms, intensive care units and other departments of local hospitals.

The range of needs and requirements is endless: there is an acute shortage of diagnostic equipment, devices and blankets for warming patients in operating rooms, ambulances. And the issue of providing medicines is really scary, because almost all the medicines patients have to buy on their own.

Recently, the team of my charitable foundation “MANUS DEI” completed the reconstruction of a room for group exercise therapy classes at the Center for the rehabilitation of children with organic lesions of the nervous system in Kiev. The building has several floors, where hundreds of children with problems of the musculoskeletal system are undergoing rehabilitation and most of the patients move in wheelchairs, and there is no elevator there.

Despite dozens of official requests from the management of the Center, for 22 years governmrent has not been able to find 500 thousand hryvnias in the budget in order to make a mine and conduct a connection, because the elevator itself has long been donated by German donors – and parents continue to carry their children in their arms.

I am not writing this in order to criticize the authorities or point out flaws, and step aside. I want to stay and fix the situation. In order to do this, it is necessary to perceive the current situation, admit that there are mistakes and do everything in order to correct them.

The first mistake that needs to be corrected is to return to the dialogue between the Ministry of Health and the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada. Let’s find common ground and start reforming the healthcare system together: not for PR of individual politicians, not for posts on social networks or advertisements on TV, but for real provision of the needs of hospitals and patients, to create normal working conditions for doctors.

Let’s see with our own eyes the real possibilities of our medicine and try to understand why we are trying to abandon it for the sake of treatment abroad, which is available to a minority of the population. This concerns, among other things, the closure of the pediatric transplantation department in Okhmatdet. Only UAH 390 million has been allocated for the treatment of Ukrainian citizens abroad, and rallies under the Ministry of Health of those who cannot wait for their turn and are either forced to raise money by the whole world or die, are indicators of the bad side of the health care system.

The Medical Forum is a modern platform for communication, dialogue and constructive discussion. It is better to work together to develop effective tools for the successful implementation of health care reform than to endlessly blame each other on the public dishonesty.

In 2019, the medical forum will visit the regions. Let the truth about our medicine become a challenge for those who speculate on the topic of medical reform on TV and in social networks. And it will become a support and a working platform for those who are ready to take responsibility for the decisions made and the future of our country.

https://24tv.ua/ru/andrej_docenko_tag5758