The list of medicines available under the program has increased to 515 units.
Back in 2017, the government introduced the “Affordable Medicines” drug reimbursement program, under which patients in Ukraine could receive three groups of drugs for free or with a partial co-payment: for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, and diabetes. Participating pharmacies in the program receive reimbursement for the cost of dispensed drugs.
Since 2019, the National Health Service of Ukraine began to finance the program, since then the number of drugs available under the program has increased. 515 drugs are already available within the program, of which 232 are for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, 53 are for diabetes, 4 are diabetes insipidus, 23 (+9 combinations) are diseases of the lower respiratory tract, 65 are mental and behavioral disorders, 7 – Parkinson’s disease, 21 – for the treatment of people in the post-transplantation period, 72 – insulin preparations, as well as, according to the latest innovations, 6 – for pain relief of palliative patients, 23 – strips for determining the blood glucose level.
As Nataliya Litvinska, Acting Director of the LOVA Health Care Department, said during a briefing at the Official Media Center at the Lviv OVA, in 2023, more than 41,000 new patients will be involved in the drug reimbursement program in the Lviv region, and more than 1,000 will participate in the program. pharmacy institutions.
Despite this, the majority of recipient patients and pharmacies under the program are concentrated in cities. Therefore, in order to spread information about “Available Medicines” in villages and towns, the Department of Health Protection organized visits to communities, which have already managed to cover 37 communities.
“We see that private institutions practically do not participate in this program, and most of the participating pharmacies are concentrated in the territory of cities, and more than 77% of the drugs prescribed under the program are prescribed by doctors who are in the cities. Therefore, residents of villages and towns do not have proper access to the program. In this regard, the department organized field teams of representatives of the information and analytical center, which visited 37 communities as of today. They inform the residents of the communities that they have the right to participate in the “Affordable Medicines” program and that medicines can be prescribed to them free of charge or with a partial surcharge,” said Nataliya Litvinska.
She also called on community heads to establish proper availability of medicines for residents of villages and towns and emphasized that in the event that doctors or pharmacies refuse patients to receive a prescription under the program, it is necessary to contact the hotline of the LOVA health care department at 260-19-18 or to the NSZU hotline – 1677.
Patient Route: How to Get an Electronic Prescription Through the Affordable Medicines Program
To receive an electronic prescription, the patient needs to contact his family doctor, who, after examining the patient, will already determine his further route.
“If the patient is diagnosed with diseases of the cardiovascular system, respiratory organs, pain syndrome in a palliative patient, diabetes, etc., then an electronic prescription can be obtained from the family doctor. He writes a prescription, and the patient receives an SMS message with the number of this prescription. The international non-proprietary name of the medicinal product will be displayed in the prescription, after which the patient goes to the pharmacy, showing the prescription number, and chooses the manufacturer of the drug himself,” said Iryna Tsegelyk, an expert of the LOVA health care department in general practice – family practice, during the briefing. of medicine
According to her, in order to receive drugs under the program, in some cases, the family doctor will refer the patient to a narrow-profile specialist.
“If a patient has Parkinson’s disease or epilepsy, the family doctor will refer them to a neurologist to draw up a treatment plan and issue an electronic prescription. In the future, these prescriptions can be prescribed by a family doctor.
In order to receive insulin drugs, the patient needs to consult an endocrinologist. The test strips, available from October, can be obtained with a prescription from your family doctor.
Electronic prescriptions for drugs that patients receive in the post-transplantation period are written by the coordinator – a transplant physician,” explained Iryna Tsegelyk.
In general, the family doctor will coordinate with the patient how to get the necessary treatment under the “Affordable Medicines” program.
Selection of drugs in the pharmacy
As Nelya Byk, an expert in the organization and management of the pharmacy of the LOVA health care department, noted, thanks to the program, some medicines can be purchased at a discount of 20 to 60%.
“The pharmacist must tell the patient which drugs are from the lowest price to the highest, and the patient and the doctor must agree on which drug from the presented manufacturers he will take,” said Nelya Byk.
We would like to add that the list of pharmacies that work under the “Affordable Medicines” program is available on the NSHU website, and you can also contact the NSHU Hotline at number 1677 and find out where the nearest pharmacy that cooperates with the program is located. List of medicines that can be purchased or