Health minister: main goal of healthcare reform in 2016 is to ensure universal access to primary healthcare

"The goal for 2016 is to ensure the access of each family of healthcare and develop primary healthcare," he said in the parliament on Wednesday. The minister said that in 2016, the top-priority task will be modernization of primary healthcare and provision of financing of the primary chain in the amount of 35% of the whole budget (clinics, ambulance stations and neighbourhood primary health centres), creation of modern dispatch services in the emergency and disaster medicine segment in the most regions of Ukraine. It is planned to finish the reformation of the public procurement system and 100% of the budget will go to buy medicines via international organizations. The legislative base to regulate the rules on the pharmaceutical market (the law on medicines) will be passed. The reimbursement system for the cost of insulin for patients with diabetes mellitus will be introduced in 2016, the bills to make medical institution autonomous will be passed, and the guaranteed package of healthcare services that will be fully financed from the budget will be introduced. Kvitashvili said that in 2016 it is planned to finish construction of the new building of Okhmatdyt hospital.