Free medicines in Ukraine: how and where to get them

3 June 2024 15:46

Nowadays, taking care of your health is becoming more and more important. However, people do not always have the opportunity to buy the medicines they need because of their high cost. However, not all Ukrainians know that vital medicines can be obtained free of charge, says [Kommersant]citing the Ministry of Health.

In order not to be left without the necessary medication support, the ministry suggests using the following options.

Medicines under the “Affordable Medicines” reimbursement programme

Reimbursement is a full or partial reimbursement to pharmacies for the cost of medicines or medical devices that were dispensed to a patient on the basis of a prescription at the expense of the state healthcare guarantee programme. The programme is known to Ukrainians as “Affordable Medicines”.

The programme was introduced in 2017 to reduce the financial burden on patients and increase the availability of medicines.

Patients with the following diagnoses can receive free medicines

cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, including primary and secondary prevention of heart attacks and strokes
diabetes mellitus and diabetes insipidus;
chronic diseases of the lower respiratory tract;
mental and behavioural disorders;
epilepsy;
parkinson’s disease;
medicinal products for the treatment of persons in the post-transplantation period;
medicines for palliative care patients in need of pain relief.

How to get free medicines under the “Affordable Medicines” programme

Step one. Contact the appropriate doctor who will issue an electronic prescription. It can be issued by a family doctor. However, this requires a prescription from a specialised doctor.

Steptwo. Receive an SMS with an e-prescription. After the doctor issues the e-prescription, the system will send an SMS with a 16-character code to the patient’s phone. This is the e-prescription code. You can also ask to print it out if it is more convenient for the person.

Step three. Find out if the medicines you need are fully reimbursed or if you need to pay a co-payment.

Step four. Find the nearest pharmacy that has signed a contract with the NHSU. Pharmacies participating in the “Affordable Medicines” reimbursement programme can be visually identified. They have appropriate stickers on the door “Here are “Affordable Medicines” and/or “Insulin”.

Step five. Contact the pharmacy and say or show the received SMS message with the code on the phone screen.

Stepsix. Receive free medicines, or pick them up with a certain surcharge. Keep in mind that an e-prescription is valid for 30 days from the date the doctor prescribes it to the patient.

Medicines from the National List of Essential Medicines

The National List of Essential Medicines contains a list of essential safe medicines with proven efficacy used to treat the most common diseases in Ukraine. Medical institutions procure medicines from the National List on their own.

The National List includes more than 400 medicines. It includes medicines for cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, infectious diseases, diseases of the musculoskeletal system, chronic kidney disease, etc.
For inpatients, medicines from the National List are provided free of charge for the entire period of treatment.

You can find out whether a medical institution has medicines included in the National List

at the hospital’s information boards. This information must be updated weekly by municipal and state medical institutions. Also, information on the availability of medicines should be published on the official websites of regional departments and offices;
on the website “There are medicines”.

Medicines from the state enterprise “Medical Procurement of Ukraine”

Healthcare facilities receive these medicines through centralised procurement based on applications from regional healthcare departments. Medicines are provided to patients during inpatient and outpatient treatment.

Special programmes in communities

Many communities have programmes to provide free medicines to their residents. The cost of medicines is reimbursed from local budgets, and these are mostly medicines for seriously ill patients and patients with rare diseases.