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Andriy Kovalev Q&A with the chief medical officer of the Kyiv-based American Institute of Laser Technologies who discusses the future role private health care clinics in Ukraine

Andriy Kovalev is a chief medical officer at the Kyiv-based American Institute of Laser Technologies, a private medical clinic that provides diagnostic and surgical health care services based on laser technologies. The clinic, also called AILAS, specializes in the treatment of eyes, and in cosmetic surgery. In this Kyiv Post interview, Kovalev discussed how his clinic started up in Ukraine with the backing of foreign investment and predicted that private health care clinics will be playing a bigger role in the future of medical care in Ukraine.


KP: Please tell us a little about your clinic? When was it established in Ukraine and how many patients do you treat per year?

AK: We commenced operations in 2003. It took us nearly 2 years to finish the paperwork and to get all the necessary permissions. So we have been practicing for three years. Some 90 percent of the investments used to launch our clinic came from the United States of America. In terms of our client base, I can say that in the treatment of vision using laser correction surgery we already service more than 1,500 people per year.


KP: How much money was invested in your clinic to get it up and running? And who exactly invested?

AK: The initial investment was slightly over $1 million. It was enough money to jumpstart the business. The investment was primarily needed to purchase and import state-of-the-art equipment. Our investor is USU Corporation. It is based in Maryland and has interests in the mining industry but has also been operating on the Ukrainian market for more than 10 years. It owns the Mirovaya Karta chain of restaurants and hotels in Ukraine. In 2003 the group decided to invest in a medical clinic project. Due to our success, there is another medical project planned by Mirovaya Karta. From the very beginning, we had a common understanding of the strategy with our investors. A strategy was adopted to concentrate all investments into purchasing the best American equipment possible. So we purchased the best available equipment used in the diagnosis and treatment of vision problems. We are talking here about technologies that were not previously available in Ukraine.


KP: Is AILAS part of an international chain of clinics in other countries? Or just a newly born Ukrainian clinic?

AK: No, we are the only AILAS clinic out there at the moment. But we are internationally licensed and recognized as a clinic. Doctors all over Europe recommend us to their clients, [many of which travel to Ukraine for less expensive treatment options]. At the moment, we do not have a branch network of clinics throughout Ukraine. Our long-term goal is to establish such a network of clinics, but the focus right now is to improve service and build the business at the first clinic here in Kyiv. If you are managing a chain of clinics you will face two problems. First, the sum of investments needed is vast. You either have to invest a huge amount of money for the best equipment or you will end up providing poor quality treatment with poor equipment.

The second problem is an issue of personnel. It is very difficult to find a qualified doctor in Ukraine that is a solid specialist in such specialized areas of medicine. There is a problem with the reputation of doctors in this country. While the country promises to offer free medical care through its socialist system of healthcare, patients are not satisfied with the Soviet mentality of USSR-trained medical professionals that tend to work at government hospitals today.

We prefer to hire young medical school graduates that are eager to learn more and to develop them. We train them according to internationally recognized standards here in our clinic and abroad. More and more Ukrainians today understand that good quality healthcare service cannot be free. It comes with a price. If a person wants to be treated in the right way with good equipment it is going to cost some money.


KP: So if Ukrainians are recognizing the value of quality healthcare, and if the best coverage is provided by private clinics, how do you think the health care business in Ukraine will develop in the long term? Are private clinics the future of the Ukrainian health care system?

AK: If you look at it objectively, Ukraine’s so-called free medical system is not really free.

In some cases it may cost even more than private health care treatment. I had a client that came to me yesterday. After an examination, I told him how much the possible treatment would cost and he was surprised because the price that they gave him in a government clinic was higher than in a private clinic. Of course, he would have to pay that money “under the table” in the government hospitals. But in a private clinic, you get a receipt for each hryvnia that you pay. So to answer your question: I think, yes. When people become more educated in terms of medical treatment, the number of private health care clinics will grow.


KP: What is the market's growth?

AK: It’s hard to come by exact figures, but I would say the private healthcare business is growing by 25-30 percent each year. We have not noticed any changes yet due to the global financial crisis. We may have some ups and downs in different sectors, but generally the long-term growth prospects are strong.