On November 27, the National Council held a joint meeting with the participation of representatives of the regulatory body, at which the participants discussed the issue of advertising in the electronic media of medicines, medical products, medical equipment, methods of diagnosis and treatment.

Ulyana Feshchuk – deputy head of the National Council, heads of the structural divisions of the regulatory body, Roman Ilyk – deputy minister of health, Taras Lyaskovskiy – head of the pharmaceutical department participated in the discussion of the topical topic, which directly affects people’s health and their right to reliable information. activity and quality of pharmaceutical products of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, Nataliya Hutsal – head of the department of state registration of medicinal and immunobiological products of the same department of the Ministry of Health, Mykola Kholodenko – head of the department of communications and international relations of the State Service of Ukraine for Medicinal Products and Drug Control, Oleg Kobelkov – head of the control department on advertising and compliance with anti-tobacco legislation of the Department of Consumer Protection of the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection.

According to the monitoring of the programs of nationwide TV channels of Ukraine, conducted by the National Council in March 2017, the average amount of advertising of medicines, medical equipment, methods of prevention and rehabilitation, as well as advertising of food products for special dietary consumption, functional food products and dietary supplements was recorded at the level of 29% of the total volume of advertising. On certain channels, the volume of such advertising is more than half of all advertising. Currently, this is the largest segment of the advertising market on Ukrainian television.

The legality of broadcasting advertisements of medicines, medical products and methods of prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation is regulated by Article 21 of the Law of Ukraine “On Advertising” and provides for the use of information that can be provided only by the central executive body that implements state policy in the field of health care – Ministry of Health of Ukraine. However, according to Article 26 of the Law of Ukraine “On Advertising”, the Ministry of Health is not included in the list of state bodies authorized to monitor advertising.

The National Council is empowered only with regard to the order and volume of advertising placement, and if it sees certain violations on the air of television and radio organizations, it turns to the State Production and Consumer Service for the response provided for by law.

That is, it is possible to control the advertising of drugs, other medical preparations and products only by involving these state bodies, each of which is individually powerless to influence such violations.

According to legal regulations, only those drugs and other medicinal products that have a mandatory certificate and are allowed to be sold without a doctor’s prescription can be advertised. Relevant data are contained in the State Register of Medicines, which is posted on the website of the Ministry of Health.

The participants of the meeting stated that, taking into account these legislative aspects, a clear control mechanism for the advertising of medicinal products has not been implemented, and accordingly the market is oversaturated with unfair advertising.

In recent years, the issue of a complete or partial ban on the advertising of medicinal products on radio and television has been actively raised, which, taking into account the results of the monitoring, may have a destructive character for the development of the Ukrainian television and advertising markets.

The National Council conducts official monitoring and can share its results, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the State Medical Service have at their disposal an information and legal base on medicinal products, the State Production and Consumer Service is endowed with a wide range of control measures and mechanisms, in particular, the possibility of imposing fines. If you join forces, you won’t have to wait long for the results.

Half of the medicines that are advertised are not effective and do not benefit people, said Deputy Minister of Health Roman Ilyk. And the advertising spread in Ukraine “does not correlate at all with what is in the civilized world.” Undoubtedly, basic rules and recommendations should be developed. Even the discussion of these issues in the public sphere, in his opinion, should have positive consequences.

As a result, the participants of the meeting came to an agreement that the discussion of these important issues for society as a whole and for each person in particular will take place from now on on a permanent basis. This will make it possible to quickly and competently solve the current issues of control over the advertising of medicines, medical products, medical equipment, and issues of diagnosis and treatment on the air of Ukrainian television and radio organizations.

According to the materials of www.nrada.gov.ua