Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine launches public discussion on the Cabinet of Ministers Provision on the new National List of Essential Medicines. Public comments and remarks to the documents will be accepted within a 30-days period from the moment provision publication, said Dr. Ulana Suprun, acting Minister of Healthcare of Ukraine at a press-briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center. “The National List approved by the Provision of the Cabinet of Ministers, we call to submit applications with proposals to include other medicines into the list. These applications will be processed by the Expert Committee. The Expert Committee will advise to the Ministry of Healthcare and the Ministry will make a final decision. This will guarantee for Ukrainians better access to efficient treatment,” said Ulana Suprun.
“The National List will lay a basis for guaranteed access of all our citizens to essential efficient and high-quality medicines which they need for treatment. All the medicines included into the National List will be free for inpatients and their cost will be reimbursed for outpatients,” added the acting Minister of Healthcare. To ensure that patients have the necessary medicines procured for state funds that they receive at present, years 2017-2018 will be a transition period. During these 2 years will function both 1) the National List for state procurement of medicines for hospitals and for reimbursement of their cost to outpatients, and 2) state procurements according to acting nomenclature of medicines through international organizations and for funds of local budgets.
During the transition period the National List will be completed according to the following procedure:
- The applicants submit applications according to the required form with proposal to include medicines into the National List (January 1 – April 1);
- The Expert Committee processes applications on the basis of Health Technologies Assessment methodology that considers not only clinical efficiency but also financial viability, in other words, capability of the state to pay for them;
- The Ministry of Healthcare negotiates prices with the producers and negotiates possibility to increase healthcare budget.
The united National List of Essential Medicines will enter into force in 2019, when the transition period will be over. It will become a basis for all procurements for state funds on the national and local level. The cost of these medicines will be reimbursed for outpatients and they will be granted for free to inpatients.
“The National List is based on priority diseases and conditions. They have been defined by the Expert Committee according to such criteria as overall disease burden for Ukraine, social guarantees of the state and social solidarity principle (for orphan diseases). The National List is based on the 19th WHO Model List of Essential Medicines (April 2015). The medicines are included into the List with regard to their efficiency, safety and financial viability,” explained Oleksandra Oleschuk, Chairman of the Expert Committee on the Selection and Use of Essential Medicines, Ministry of Healthcare, Head of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology Department, Gorbachevskyi State Medical University of Ternopil.
“The National List of Essential Medicines will include basic medicines necessary for treatment of priority diseases and conditions, indicated according to International Nonproprietary Names (INNs), pharmaceutical forms and doses. This will narrow possibilities for abuses in favor of certain producers and avoid procurement of inefficient medicines that are partly present in the acting National List,” noted Roman Ilyk, deputy Minister of Healthcare of Ukraine.
The National List of Essential Medicines is a list of safe medicines with proved efficiency. The state will guarantee free access to these medicines for all patients through smart and rational use of public funds. The List is formed by the Expert Committee on Selection and Use of Essential Medicines. This is a permanent advisory body established by the Ministry of Healthcare. It is mandated to make comparative assessment of efficiency, safety and economic viability of medicines and to advise to the Ministry of Healthcare whether they should or should not be included into the National List.