How patients are provided with free medicines: hospitals promised unscheduled inspections
5 March 2025 09:42
The head of the National Health Service of Ukraine, Natalia Husak, has presented a step-by-step plan to implement the National Security and Defense Council’s decision to check the availability of medicines and medical devices in hospitals that are provided for by treatment standards and paid for under the medical guarantee program, and therefore patients should receive them free of charge. This was reported by the Ministry of Health, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
It is noted that last week alone, the Ministry’s hotline received 122 appeals from citizens that they had received lists of medicines that they needed to buy in order to continue treatment.
Minister of Health of Ukraine Viktor Lyashko called the practice of demanding money from patients for treatment that has already been paid for by the state unacceptable.
“There is work for both the NHSU and law enforcement. We will find ways to respond. Patients should receive free of charge what is covered by the Medical Guarantee Program,” the Minister emphasized.
How the provision of free medicines to patients will be controlled
The action plan developed by the National Health Service of Ukraine, in particular, provides for
– strengthening the work with patient complaints;
– joint monitoring with patient organizations to ensure that hospitals disclose and update their information resources on medicines balances;
– visits of representatives of interregional departments of the NHSU to medical institutions to interview patients. If facts are established that a patient in a particular hospital is forced to buy medicines at their own expense, payments to such hospitals from the NHSU may be suspended;
– unscheduled actual monitoring visits to medical institutions.
How hospitals will be selected for inspections
The list of hospitals for unscheduled actual monitoring will be formed based on the results of the risk-based system:
– rating of providers by the percentage of the amount of purchase and receipt of medicines from the contract amount;
– additional ranking of providers by the percentage of charitable assistance received from patients for their treatment in kind and in cash, of the amount;
– procurement and posting of medicinal products (or medical devices);
– if necessary, additional selection criteria will be applied: for example, the number of complaints, etc;
The final selection of service providers will be based on the worst automatic monitoring indicators.
The Minister of Health of Ukraine Viktor Lyashko also suggested that patients should call the Ministry of Health hotline at 0 800 505 201 or the NHSU hotline at 16-77 if they are given a paper with a list of medicines or are required to pay for a medical service provided by the relevant NHSU package.
As a reminder, monitoring by the NHSU is one of the measures envisaged by the NSDC decision of February 12, 2025 “On Additional Measures to Ensure the Availability of Medicines for Ukrainians”.
The said decision instructed the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, together with the National Health Service of Ukraine, to ensure monitoring of the implementation of health care contracts under the medical guarantees program with monthly reporting during 2025 in terms of ensuring the availability and use of the required list of medicines by health care providers in the provision of relevant medical services, as defined by industry standards in the field of health care.
