The new Minister of Health Ministry announced the need to continue health reform
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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On February 27, the new Minister of Health became Oleg Musiy, who repeatedly criticized monopoly in the sphere of medical services, and also fought for the introduction of compulsory state insurance. Now, among all health problems, the government of Ukraine has decided, first of all, to postpone the closure of hospitals, as well as to continue the medical reform that has begun.
Oleg Musiy remarked at a meeting in the Verkhovna Rada that the country's healthcare is in extremely serious condition, and therefore the Ministry faced a number of important tasks, the solution of which should be immediate. The main goal of O. Musii defined the provision and preservation of citizens' health. According to the Minister of Health, a number of changes are needed now to improve the work of health care.
In addition, O. Musiy noted that health care reform can not be stopped, because it is appropriate in modern conditions, which is why the reform needs to be reviewed and continued. The minister plans to determine the further development of the reform, which will be determined jointly with international experts. Musi said that at this stage it is necessary to find out what exactly caused discontent of medical workers and the population. The Ministry of Health, according to O. Musia should work to meet the needs of Ukrainians and respond to the request of citizens. According to the minister, the reform should be carried out systematically and consistently, and it is very important to conduct educational work in the media so that there are no misunderstandings and lack of assistance on the ground.
The minister said that the state should significantly reduce its influence on health system management. Now the given function is assigned to the profile ministry, and attraction, and professional associations are not practiced. It is for this reason that it is necessary to introduce a system of self-regulation and self-regulation in the field of medical services, in other words, part of the functions must be transferred to the medical community, including the coordination of important documents. In modern developed countries, health is a form of partnership between medical communities and the state, which is extremely necessary for Ukraine, since under the conditions of monopoly management any system will work inefficiently.
Oleg Musiy emphasizes the importance of introducing medical public insurance, which for a long time was hampered by lengthy discussions provoked by the authorities concerned. As the new minister noted, he personally likes the Slovenian model, where the system of public and private insurance is integrated. Most of the inhabitants of Slovenia are insured not only under compulsory state insurance programs, but also voluntary. In Slovenia, we managed to balance private and state insurance, and Oleg Musiy is confident that Ukraine will also be able to achieve this. The Polish example shows the effective organization of medical care at the primary level, which works thanks to the joint efforts of the relevant ministry and medical communities.
In addition, Oleg Musii stressed that doctors in Ukraine need to be given the opportunity to sell their own services. Between the health department and medical institutions, it is necessary to introduce the organization of work on a contract basis, in turn in hospitals on behalf of the chief doctor will be contracts with narrow specialists. Thus, it is scrupulous to move from budgetary relations to contractual ones. Medical institutions will be accredited, and licenses will be issued to doctors.
Oleg Musiy also noted the inefficiency of the bed fund, as well as the shortcomings in the training of family medicine doctors. The minister also agreed that it is important to leave qualified specialists among pediatricians, since they are now being retrained to family doctors expeditiously. As O. Musii stated, training is a very important component of the new health care reform. He also stressed the importance of preventive medicine, treating the disease and its consequences is more difficult than preventing this process. O. Musiy stressed that for the prevention of diseases it is important to ensure sufficient coverage of vaccinations, strictly follow the vaccination schedule and provide vaccines in full all regions.
According to the minister, it is necessary to develop a mechanism for "popular lustration" of top and middle-level managers in the Ministry of Health. O. Musiy noted that the heads of the relevant ministries will be dismissed, but later some of them can be reinstated. Candidates for the post of deputy ministers will be nominated by the coalition of the parliament. Musi stressed that as long as the level of people's trust in power is high, it is necessary to complete the personnel reshuffle as soon as possible and to reorganize the ministries. The minister also hopes that the government will take an active part in solving health problems and, if necessary, give recommendations. Concerning wages to medical workers, O. Musii stated that this is the sphere of activity of the Parliament of Ukraine, but not the Ministry of Health.
To everything, Oleg Musii stated that the promotion of the interests of individual groups is now in the past and the lobbying issues of deputies will not be considered. The minister also said that he is responsible only for the Ministry of Health, but not for the Ministry of Public Procurement, all previous tenders were dubious, but now they need to be made public, and all responsibility for the decisions made should be assigned directly to the minister.
The expert institutions in the Ministry of Health that allow drugs on the Ukrainian market, the State Service for Medicinal Products, issuing a permit for medicines, must abandon the practice of extortion for issuing the necessary document. Also, falsify the indicators of the health care system used earlier for the necessary statistical data.
An important issue for today is the minister considers improving the pricing of medicines. The Minister does not exclude the possibility of direct procurement of drugs at the expense of budget funds from producers, excluding intermediaries. In addition, there is a need to revise the system of declaring the manufacturer of wholesale prices.
On registration of medicines O. Musiy said that today there are a lot of drugs of doubtful quality on the Ukrainian market, and in connection with the course on eurointegration it is necessary to review the laws of Ukraine on admission of medicines to the market and develop them in accordance with the norms of the European Union so that when Ukraine joins in the EU, all of our normative acts corresponded to European standards. Also, the minister noted the important role of the domestic pharmaceutical industry for the normal provision of medicines to Ukrainian citizens.
Also, the minister made an appeal to the deputies about the need to review and prolong many state programs whose expiration date has expired (Pediatric Oncology, Diabetes Mellitus, etc.).
At the end of his speech, Oleg Musii stressed that the new policy of the Ministry of Health will be based on professionalism, transparency and honesty.