November 3, 2016

Shaking up health care in Ukraine

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“The Doctor Is In: Ukraine’s New Health Minister Already Shaking Up Sclerotic System,” by Michael Getto, writing on October 25 in the “New Atlanticist” blog of the Atlantic Council (http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/the-doctor-is-in-ukraine-s-new-health-minister-already-shaking-up-sclerotic-system):

Health care in Ukraine has not worked in the past – not for hospitals, clinics, doctors or nurses, and most important, not for the Ukrainian people… Entrenched, bureaucratic and corrupt interests, wielding a combination of bribes, private pharmaceutical deals and indifference, contribute to a system in which the public’s basic health needs are unmet. …

But change is already under way. Acting Minister of Health Ulana Suprun… canceled Decree 33, the perverse Soviet-era directive that based hospital funding in Ukraine on the number of beds in a medical facility, as opposed to the flesh and blood patients who need care and attention. …

Second, Dr. Suprun persuaded the Cabinet to increase health care funding by 7.5 percent over last year. Government support for health care is still not where it needs to be… But it is roughly at the same level as state spending in Central Europe and the Baltics, and is approaching a level sufficient to meet Ukrainians’ health care priorities…

Third, the ministry is reforming the way vaccines are procured in Ukraine. …vaccine procurement by international partners to combat polio, tuberculosis and other diseases – supervised by the new team at the Ministry of Health – has already saved more than 800 million hrv, about $30 million. That money can be used to purchase twice as many vaccines as before. …

The preliminary results from the new team at the Ministry of Health are a welcome sign as the country continues to move toward Europe.

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