In News

Over 5 years, the cost of medicine in Ukraine decreased by 2 times: the results of the reseurch

https://glavk.info/news/354787-za_5_let_rashody_na_meditsinu_v_ukraine_sokratilisj_v_2_raza_rezuljtaty_issledovanija

12 April 2018, 13: 14: 00

On 10 Tuesday of April , the press center of the news Agency RIA Novosti Ukraine held a presentation and discussion of the results of the fourth study of the Ukrainian Institute of policy analysis and management from the cycle “price of reforms”. This time the study was devoted to health care reform.

Presenting the study, the expert of UIAMP Daniil Bogatyrev drew attention to the main indicators of the health system of Ukraine, such as the number of medical staff and hospital beds, budget expenditures on medicine, fertility and mortality rates, as well as epidemics of viral diseases .

According to him, despite the increase in health care costs in the state budget of 2018 compared to 2013, in dollar terms, they decreased from 7.6 billion to 3.9 billion – in fact, 2 times. “Today, 2.6% of Ukraine’s GDP is spent on health care. For comparison, in 1998 the figure was 3.3 per cent. That is, in the” dashing 90-ies” health allocated more funds as a percentage of GDP than it is now ” – said the expert. In addition, D. Bogatyrev said that in the period from 2013 to 2018, the negative balance in Ukraine increased by almost 33%.

Summing up, the expert stressed that the reform of health care in our country is necessary, but the solidary system of health insurance, the introduction of telemedicine in rural areas and the high burden on family doctors will have a negative impact on the quality of health services, and hence on the health of the population. According to the political scientist, over the years of reform we have not seen significant progress in the field of health and is unlikely to see it in the future.

Discussing the presented study, academician, Vice-President of the Academy of economic Sciences of Ukraine and candidate of medical Sciences Anatolii Peshko noted that Ukraine today recorded the highest mortality rate in Europe and one of the highest in the world. “The South African Republic is higher than us in this indicator, and only Lesotho is lower,” stated the academician. According to A. Peshko, many of these deaths could have been avoided, as they are associated with a low level of health care.

Summing up the speech, the expert focused on the problem of underfunding of highly specialized health care institutions and low salaries of doctors. According to him, the situation in which the salary of a doctor is equalized with the salary of a nurse is absolutely unacceptable.

Honorary Chairman of the NGO ” Institute of public health” former Deputy head of the state sanitary and epidemiological service of Ukraine Svyatoslav Protas said that we are once again witnessing how Ukrainians Rob. “If in 1990 we stole property, issuing vouchers for privatization, and then buying them, now we are handing out declarations and buying our health,” he said.

The expert drew attention to the fact that the shortage of health workers at the primary level deprives almost 50% of citizens of the possibility of obtaining timely and quality medical care. In addition, according to S. Protas, the current reform will be remembered for the enormous scale of corruption, which will be the result of the centralization of the distribution of funds allocated for medicine. The former Deputy head of the state sanitary and epidemiological service of Ukraine advised citizens to think about purchasing a voluntary health insurance package for themselves and their families.

According to political analyst Denis Gayevsky, all the reforms carried out by the Ukrainian authorities fit into the ideology of neoliberalism. “Everything that does not generate income should be either sent under the knife or put on a commercial track – this is the basic ethics of the current and all other Ukrainian elites over the years of independence,” the expert said. According to the data provided By D. Gayevsky, the shortage of doctors in Ukraine is estimated at 42 thousand, and the shortage of nurses-150 thousand. At the same time, 7 thousand doctors every year seeking a better life abroad.

The expert also noted that the purchase of drugs through international intermediary funds led to an overpayment by Ukraine of billions of dollars for the cost of purchased drugs. In conclusion, D. Gayevsky suggested that soon an acceptable level of medical care in Ukraine will be the lot of elitist.

The Executive Secretary of the National medical chamber Sergey Kravchenko in his speech noted that the purpose of the reform was to change the purpose of the medical subvention and the transfer of exclusive rights to dispose of this money to the newly formed National health service – the subordination of financial flows in the medical industry . “In order to shift responsibility from the government to the Parliament, the creation of this Central Executive body was prescribed in the law, although the Cabinet of Ministers could create it by its own order,” the expert said.

According to S. Kravchenko, in a country where the incidence is increasing every year, the need for a bed Fund cannot be reduced. In addition, he drew attention to the fact that medical institutions have been closed illegally in recent years, since, according to the Constitution, their number cannot be reduced.