The “Affordable Medicines” program started on April 1, 2017, and during that time, about 2,800 pharmacies joined it.

Acting The Minister of Health of Ukraine Dr. Ulyana Suprun and the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Rozenko reported on the progress of the government program “Affordable Medicines”.

Most of the regions of Ukraine already have contracts with pharmacy chains, where you can already get medicine for free or with a small surcharge.

Currently, the program is most active in the Vinnytsia, Lviv, Kharkiv, Rivne, Mykolaiv, Khmelnytskyi, Chernihiv and Ternopil regions. In each of these regions, 100 to 500 pharmacies have signed contracts with fund managers. Medicines are dispensed by almost all pharmacies that have signed contracts.

Acting The Minister of Health of Ukraine, Dr. Ulyana Suprun, noted that the “Affordable Medicines” program is an example of decentralization in the field of health care.

“With active work in the regions, this program will become an effective tool for solving the problem that is equally acute in all regions of Ukraine – high mortality of citizens and the inaccessibility of treatment due to the financial situation ,” Dr. Ulyana Suprun noted.

During the operation of the program, the network of pharmacies dispensing medicines has expanded significantly, but not all regions are moving at the same pace.

The Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Rozenko noted that the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has provided all the necessary conditions for the effective implementation of the “Affordable Medicines” program. The entire regulatory framework for this program has been formed, all necessary Government resolutions, orders of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine have been approved, and the necessary funds have been directed to the regions.

“The “Affordable Medicines” program is being actively deployed throughout Ukraine, and its effectiveness now depends on the close cooperation of the heads of local authorities with the Ministry of Health. Today, about 2,700 pharmacies dispense prescription drugs, but their number will continue to increase.

However, the issue of filling these pharmacies with the necessary assortment of drugs is very acute. Therefore, I once again appeal to local state administrations to conduct appropriate negotiations with distributors as soon as possible in order to provide all pharmacies with a complete list of drugs covered by this program ,” said the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine.

Acting The Minister of Health of Ukraine, Dr. Ulyana Suprun, also emphasized the important role of doctors in the successful implementation of the program.

“The “Affordable Medicines” program does not start with pharmacies – the program starts with a visit to the doctor. Therefore, we are also appealing to doctors so that they know as well as possible how the program works, have a register of participating drugs, a list of pharmacies participating in the program in their region, be ready to write the correct prescriptions and encourage citizens to contact them and involve other patients.” Dr. Suprun noted .

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The government’s “Affordable Medicines” program applies to medicines for cardiovascular diseases, type II diabetes and bronchial asthma.

In order to get drugs under this program, you need to contact a doctor, get a correctly written prescription with an indication of the active substance, come to a pharmacy participating in the program, and get the selected drugs.

We will also remind that in 2017 the government allocated 500 million hryvnias for the program.

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All about the program: goo.gl/3K2M3U

Map of pharmacies: https://goo.gl/lx4cwI

Lists of pharmacies in your area: https://goo.gl/4BD36A

Contacts of regional offices: https://goo.gl/E1sjM4

Published based on the materials of moz.gov.ua