OREANDA-NEWS  Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev approved the program of state guarantees of free medical care for 2019-2021.

"I approved the program of state guarantees of free medical care for the next three years, that is, this is the period of 2019-2021," Medvedev said.

The Prime Minister added that the document expands the list of rare diseases for the treatment of which medicines are purchased at the Federal level.

Medvedev also signed a document on expanding the list of vital medicines to 735. "I recently gave an interview to Russian TV channels on the results of the year and talked about the list of VED [vital and essential drugs], which we had 699 drugs, and said that in the near future we will expand it. I want to inform you that I signed a decision to expand it to 735 positions," the Head of Government said at a meeting with the Deputy Prime Ministers.

He noted that the updated list includes both new drugs and additional dosage forms. Thus, the list includes another 36 items, including one medicine included in the list of expensive.

Also, according to him, the document defines a strict period of computed tomography for patients suffering from cancer, "now it should not exceed two weeks from the date of appointment of [this study]." The document was also amended in order to implement the national project "health Care".

Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova noted that the decision to set not only the list of essential medicines and the list of drugs for medical use according to the decision of medical commissions and the minimum assortment of medicinal preparations necessary for rendering medical assistance. "12 cancer drugs are supplemented, three drugs for cardiovascular diseases," Golikova said.