OREANDA-NEWS. October 25, 2010. In his closing remarks at the expanded meeting of the working group on healthcare reform at the Committee on Economic Reforms, President Viktor Yanukovych stressed that healthcare reform will remain in the focus government’s attention.

According to him, the reform has three key tasks:

To ensure that medical services are affordable, which means to make budgetary funding available to patient and to provide that the whole network of healthcare facilities is patient-oriented.

To ensure that healthcare services are of high quality, which means qualified doctors, modern equipment, and guaranteeing and protection patients’ rights.

To ensure preventive healthcare and promotion of healthy lifestyle, as well as healthy learning and labor environment.

The President informed that he will soon introduce to the Parliament the draft Law of Ukraine "On Foundations of Healthcare Legislation in Ukraine", which is to become the base for implementing the reform.

Besides, Viktor Yanukovych said, it is important to finalize elaboration of the draft Law "On Healthcare Facilities’ Functioning and Purchase of Medical Services”.

At the same time, Viktor Yanukovych said, the work should begin without waiting for the adoption of laws. "The Ministry of Health should urgently complete development of the methodological, institutional and regulatory framework for the reform," he said.

"We must urgently get to designing a network of hospital districts," Viktor Yanukovych also said, adding that regional administrations must quickly make an inventory of their medical institutions’ network.

The President drew attention to the need to analyze the availability and quality of roads to ensure the effective operation of ambulances. The work has to be started as soon as possible for "the map of Ukraine’s hospital districts to be ready in six months", Viktor Yanukovych said.

He also stressed the urgency of developing a concept of reforming the ambulance service and drew particular attention to the importance of addressing social problems of doctors: providing them with decent wages, housing, adequate working conditions for those working in rural areas, etc.

President Yanukovych gave separate set of orders regarding the national project of development of perinatal care centers "The New Life". "The center must be opened in Kirovohrad by June 1, 2011," he said, adding that all other regions must get their perinatal care centers during 2011-2013, and that the Cabinet must provide adequate funding of the "Reproductive Health of the Nation” state program.

The President said that the reform requires coordination of different departments and establishing inter-regional cooperation. According to him, healthcare reform is certainly a very ambitious work that will take many years to complete. He noted that the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, Committee on Economic Reforms and Parliamentary Committee on Healthcare should become a coordinative center of the work.

According to the President, the work should also involve participation of the society and informing the public about the planned and already taken steps.