Starting July 30, 2019, the new edition of the Register of medicines subject to reimbursement under the Affordable Medicines Program is in force. The number of medicines whose cost is fully reimbursed increased to 78 positions – this is 20% more than in the previous edition of the Register.
The Affordable Medicines State Program allows patients living with cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, or bronchial asthma to receive medicines for free or with a small surcharge by electronic prescription from a family doctor or therapist. A prerequisite is the signing of a declaration with a doctor. A list of pharmacies participating in the program can be found on the NHSU website.
The new edition of the Register of Medicines available under the Program will include 254 items, of which 195 – for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, 45 – for type II diabetes, 14 – for bronchial asthma. This distribution meets the needs of Ukrainians – according to the Ministry of Health, most often – in 80% of cases – patients receive medicines for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. The proportion of prescriptions for the treatment of type II diabetes is 17%, bronchial asthma – 3%.
The cheapest medicine compensated by the state for 100% costs 5.22 UAH, the most expensive – 863.43 UAH. Since April 1, 2019, doctors have signed more than 5 million electronic prescriptions, with 82% of which patients have received medicines at the pharmacy. For these medicines, the National Health Service of Ukraine reimbursed pharmacies for UAH 258.6 million.
The program helps to reduce the price of drugs, because the Ministry of Health offers manufacturers, the cost of drugs of which does not exceed 10% of the lowest price proposal for a daily dose, to lower the price of their drugs so that their cost is fully reimbursed. Of the 41 such drugs, prices were reduced for 31.
Manufacturers of medicines guarantee that over the next six months they will be able to produce and deliver 46 million packages of medicines – 7 million more than during the previous Register.
