More than 20 heads of municipalities in the Chernihiv Oblast, whose local councils are the founders of municipal non-profit specialised healthcare facilities, joined the meeting with representatives of the National Health Service organised by the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in the Chernihiv Oblast.
U-LEAD, in cooperation with its partners, continuously supports municipalities in revamping healthcare management and improving the quality of medical services provided to the public. This was highlighted by Iryna Kudryk, Head of the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in the Chernihiv Oblast, at the dialogue event “Interaction and Cooperation of the National Health Service of Ukraine with Local Self-Government Bodies”.
In 2024 alone, the training course “Steps for Specialists. Healthcare Management in the Municipality”, the support programme “Development of the Public Health System in the Municipality” and a number of sector-specific info sessions and consultations were held for municipal officials.
At this new meeting focused on updating the Medical Guarantee Programme, participants discussed challenges, openly voiced problems and sought joint solutions.
Zhanna Sherstiuk, Deputy Head of the Chernihiv Regional State Administration, underlined the heavy workload on healthcare.
“Today, healthcare facilities operate as municipal non-profits, that is they need to operate with such basic concepts as ‘profit’ and ‘loss’ and ensure the efficiency and rational use of resources. We are grateful to the U-LEAD Office and the senior officials of the Northern Department of the National Health Service of Ukraine for the opportunity to receive answers to all the questions that are pressing for the facilities in a live dialogue format, for methodological support, clarifications and advice,” she said.
In turn, Viktoriia Miliutina, Director of the Northern Interregional Department of the National Health Service of Ukraine, stressed that the National Health Service of Ukraine, in partnership with municipalities, was committed to providing citizens with quality medical services, no matter where they live — in a village, town or city — as well as to supporting healthcare facilities through the Medical Guarantee Programme, which covers a wide range of directions of medical services, such as primary, emergency, specialised and palliative care, as well as rehabilitation and reimbursement of medicines under the Affordable Medicines Programme. These services are financed from the state budget, and healthcare facilities receive appropriate funding from the National Health Service of Ukraine.
According to Viktoriia Miliutina, the budget of the Medical Guarantee Programme for 2025 is UAH 175.5 billion. She spoke about changes in the scope of services and pilot projects.
As part of the pilot projects, the National Health Service of Ukraine in 2025 will administer medical care for veterans, including an expanded scope of primary medical care services, dental treatment and prosthetics, cryopreservation and storage of reproductive cells for military personnel.
The Affordable Medicines Programme will also be revised. The network of pharmacies covered by the Programme is going to be expanded, including those operating at hospitals. The scope of “available medicines” will include medicinal products for the treatment of rheumatological, neurological, ophthalmological and endocrinological diseases, more than 30 new primary substances, medicines in drop form, ointments, as well as antibacterial drugs with paediatric dosages.
Svitlana Pysarenko, Head of the Poltava Regional Department of the Northern Interregional Department of the National Health Service, explained how to use the analytical dashboards of the National Health Service. These tools, she stated, will be useful to facility owners when analysing the availability of a certain type of service for municipality residents, assessing the use of equipment purchased with municipal funds, analysing the use of funds by healthcare facilities, including account balances, the amount and payment of wages, the purchase of medicines, etc.
Summing up the meeting, Iryna Kudryk stated, “The issues of providing/maintaining quality medical services in the municipalities of the Chernihiv Oblast call for constant attention from their founders — local self-government bodies, strategic management decisions on the ground, proper quality control for medical services and consistent meaningful dialogue. That is why it is vital to have dialogue spaces to hold open meetings on equal ground for all stakeholders associated with the quality and accessibility of medical care in municipalities, including municipality’s senior officials, representatives of the National Health Service of Ukraine and state authorities.”
