02/11/2016
II Ukrainian Healthcare Forum ’16 was held on October 21 in Kyiv
27 October 2016
healthcare-16II Ukrainian Healthcare Forum ’16 has taken place on October 21, 2016 in Kyiv and focused on investment opportunities, development and reforms of the sector. Forum was organized by A7 CONFERENCES, General Partner – Spizhenko Clinic – Oncology Center.
For the second time Forum has served as the largest international platform in Ukraine and brought together representatives of the sector with investors and donors in order to attract investment in the healthcare sector and to solve the essential challenges of the industry. Among the participants of the event were top representatives of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, manufacturers and distributors of medical products, head doctors, owners of private clinics and manufacturers of medical equipment and foreign companies representatives.
What place should the state hold in the development of the health system? How possible is a joint work of the Ministry with the private sector? What the manufacturers of medical equipment are concerned about? For which reason Ukraine as a country does not have enough qualified medical staff? These questions were asked in the framework of the discussion panels of the Forum.
The last question was underlined by Oleg Spizhenko, Advisor to the Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, Head of the Association of Private Clinics of Ukraine, Owner of Spizhenko Clinic – Oncology Center: “Nowadays finding the qualified staff is a big problem. Even if we would have an investment in the construction of the local hospital in Kyiv, we do not have the personnel reserve and potential.”
Pavlo Kovtonyuk, Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine, said: “In 2017 we will start the implementation of the new financing model – insurance. It will be distinguished by the fact that in the end it will bring together two sectors of medicine – private and public. Money will “walk after the patient”, and any health facilities will be able to compete for the budget, regardless of their form of ownership. This will create a healthy competition in the healthcare market.”
Roman Ilyk, Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine, noted that “2017 is a year of the reforms beginning. We are focusing our efforts, first of all, to change the financing system of the industry, so that the medicines became available to the public. Now nearly 90% of Ukrainians are forced to buy medicines at their own expense, and the majority of citizens does not even have such an opportunity. We agree that it is needed to change the focus to the field of preventive treatment, as it is much easier to prevent the disease than to treat it. The action plan is outlined, and we have already started working with the industry committee of the Verkhovna Rada to continue the reforms of the industry.”
How real is the restructuring of the insurance system through public-private partnerships was also one of the themes of the Forum. During the discussion panel the representatives of the private sector and representatives of the Ministry of Health had an opportunity to decide – whether the two systems may work together and, if so, how to come to a common regulatory system so that the future reform may become a catalyst for positive change in Ukrainian healthcare sector in future.
Vitaliy Tsymbaliuk, President of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine, has very accurately addressed the importance of the Ukrainian healthcare sector issues, quoting the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates: “Health is not everything, but without health all the rest is nothing”, – the speaker said, adding, that “there is a need to find the right balance between the state and private medicine.”
Mykhaylo Radutskiy, Advisor to the Head, Kyiv City Council, President, Boris Clinic, said: “The idea of creating a joint insurance system under which every company that wants to participate in public medicine should make its contribution, is the most viable. However, it should be understood that noone would manage the money better than a private entrepreneur.”
Volodymyr Monastyrskiy, Partner of Dentons, said: “The improvement of the regulation of the sector and the access to certain medicinal products for the Ukrainian market at possibly lower price depends on when the Ukrainian legislation will get closer to EU standards and when the recent changes in the drug registration procedure will be introduced. However, ensuring the proper implementation of these changes should take some additional measures and joint efforts market participants and professional associations.”
Also at the Forum were the following speakers: Iryna Sysoenko, Deputy Head of Committee for Healthcare, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Valeriy Kondruk, President of Pharmplanet; Board Member, SUP, Feng Zhao, Program Leader, Human Development Program in Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine,World Bank, Maxim Proskurov, Policy Officer (Healthcare issues), American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, Daniel Smigelski, Managing Director, American Intercontinental Healthcare Group, Pavlo Kharchyk, President, Association of Market Operators of Medical Devices, Petro Bagriy, President, Association of Ukrainian Drugs Manufacturers, Liudmila Antonenko, Chief Doctor, Oleksandrivska Clinic Hospital, Tetiana Dumenko, Acting Director, SE “State Expert Center of Ministry of Health of Ukraine”, Dmytro Lufer, Operational Director, Into-Sana Clinic, Kostyantyn Magaletskyi, Partner, Horizon Capital, Dmytro Lavrentiy, Chief Executive Officer, UMT Plus, Toshiba Exclusive Distributor, Yuriy MarchenkoOleksandr Chumak, Director, InterChem; Vitaliy Shvachka, Director, Karl Storz Ukraine and others.
