The ‘Affordable Medicines’ programme has been updated: The Ministry of Health has added new medicines
The Ministry of Health of Ukraine has updated the register of medicines and medical devices subject to reimbursement. The new list includes 589 trade names of medicines, 208 of which are available to patients free of charge. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Health.
The innovations also include the addition of new medicines for the treatment of mental disorders and fentanyl patches for pain relief, which are important for palliative care.
These changes were approved by the Ministry of Health Order No. 1537 dated 4 September 2024, which replaces the previous order of February of the same year.
The reimbursement of medicines is carried out under the State Healthcare Guarantee Programme, which greatly facilitates patients’ access to vital medicines.
As a reminder, starting from 1 July, medicines under the Affordable Medicines programme are dispensed exclusively on the basis of an electronic prescription, which replaced the paper prescription. The government’s decision was temporarily postponed due to the war, but now the country has fully switched to the electronic system, which allows for more efficient management of the programme and allocation of budget resources.
Patients can now receive a printed copy of the prescription information sheet if they need it. The procedure for obtaining the first electronic prescription has also changed since 19 October: patients can visit a doctor remotely, except for those who are on substitution maintenance therapy.
