OREANDA-NEWS. On August 21, 2009 At its sitting the Gov’t approved unanimously State Target Program “Pancreatic diabetes” for 2009-2013 and draft law “Principles of activity in the sphere of health protection”. The Minister of Health Vasyl Knyazevych announced during a briefing at the Cabinet of Ministers.

Vasyl Knyazevych informed according to the Program on pancreatic diabetes the citizens with such a disease will be provided with medications by the state and UAH 2.5 billion have been allocated for these purposes. According to him, on commission of the Government the Ministry of Health Protection has to elaborate new mechanisms of solving the mentioned problem. In particular, to ready “a register of patients, protocol of treatment and control” and also “to ensure a system of control over compensation of blood sugar so that a patient could control himself and medicine could choose this or that insulin for him”.

“Insulin will be sold on medical prescription in individually determined drugstores. The program contains that every patient will have suitable for him insulin, protocol of its use and control over the disease and the state allocates funds,” he clarified the situation. For such purposes, according to the Minister, around UAH 300-400 million a year will be earmarked. At this, he emphasized, allocation of funds for purchase of insulin will be held on the local level.

On commenting approval by the Government of the draft law on principles of activity in the sphere of health protection Vasyl Knyazevych stressed that this document is so-to-say “constitution in the health protection area”. He expressed hopes that the mentioned draft law would be endorsed by the Parliament and the following year the system of health protection could start working.

At the same time, the Minister emphasized that the Gov’t had made the whole system of changes directed to improvement of the system of health protection. According to him, this is a program of reforming, planned for five years, and the first stage of it is introduction of an institute of family doctor through three years (a respective draft law was forwarded by the Government to the Verkhovna Rada). The next stages will be draft laws on medical establishment, rights of patient, self-governing organizations, insurance medicine etc. with total number of around 60 draft laws that are to be introduced. “I mean rather complex processes are coming but we are in the process of preparing the country and will assist to prepare our citizens to those changes we plan,” he emphasized.