The reform of the healthcare system in Ukraine will start in 2014, Health Minister Oleksandr Anischenko has said.
"We will start reforming the entire healthcare system in the country in 2014," he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday.
The minister noted that parliament recently adopted a bill on pilot projects for healthcare system reform in Vinnytsia, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Kyiv.
According to him, the results of these pilot projects will be announced at the end of 2013, and the reform will be launched all over the country.
According to Anischenko, the Health Ministry drafted two more bills aimed at reforming the healthcare system, in particular, on the principles of work of medical institutions and on the formation of a unified state emergency medical service, which were submitted to the government.
The minister stressed that the main problem of Ukraine’s health system was a lack of staff.
In particular, Ukraine is 50,000 doctors short, and the heath service suffers from a lack of funding and the deterioration of its material and technical base.
On July 8 Ukraine’s parliament has approved a law on amendments to the Ukrainian legislation on the healthcare system to improve the service of rendering medical aid.
The document foresees the procedure for establishing and closing healthcare establishments, their classification and specifics of activity.
The law regulates the appointment of the heads of state, municipal healthcare establishments through the signing of a relevant contract with them.
According to the law, medical aid is free of charge. It is provided using budget funds by healthcare establishments and doctors that carry out economic activity on medical practice as individuals-entrepreneurs with whom agreements on the service of rendering free aid were signed.
The law classifies medical aid as emergency, first, secondary, specialized, tertiary, and highly specialized.
In order to ensure proper quality and the availability of free secondary medical aid, as well as the efficient use of resources in the healthcare system, the law envisages the creation of hospital districts, the procedure for the creation of which is defined by the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers.
Earlier President Viktor Yanukovych has said that healthcare reform is a priority in public policy, and added that the state will always seek to protect maternity and childhood.
On May 24 Yanukovych has appointed Oleksandr Anischenko as Ukraine’s new health minister.
