No matter where our patient goes, be it a public or private clinic, the treatment will be paid for by the state. Annual budget funding approaches the mark of 2.3$ billion. These funds used to go to public and municipal hospital exclusively, but now private entities also have a claim to them.

Has a colleague insulted you? Can this be considered an abuse of your honor, dignity and business reputation, and should you sue that colleague? Is this freedom of speech or an insult to your dignity? Should you involve law enforcement in these situations?

Low quality of medical services, especially in primary healthcare, obsolete equipment, unmotivated personnel, rampant corruption, inefficient use of budget funds – the list of challenges the reform is facing goes on. Semashko system is obviously unable to revive healthcare in market economy.

The paradox of Ukrainian medicine is that despite having a host of medical facilities and hospital beds it still cannot fully satisfy the people’s need for quality health care.

Ukraine’s healthcare reform is one of the few that might be carried out by the end of 2017. The World Bank, World Health Organization and European Commission played a major role in this by providing financial and technical assistance as well as engaging national and international experts in working on the new legislation.

Ukrainian healthcare market is estimated at $4.9 billion, $2.4 of which are patients’ medical expenses. At the same time, 90% of medical services are provided by state and municipal clinics, which fail to deliver the necessary scale and quality of treatment.