Today Charitable foundation \u00abPatients of\u00a0Ukraine\u00bb addressed the Prime Minister Arseniy Yacenyuk with official appeal not to\u00a0cut the state budget for healthcare. Newly appointed Minister of\u00a0Healthcare, Mr. Oleh Musiy, officially stated that in\u00a0line with the other ministries his institution has been given a\u00a0task to\u00a0reduce its budget up\u00a0to\u00a030%.<\/p>\n
\u00abIt is totally unacceptable to reduce the expenses for state medicine, as this area has been permanently underfunded, according to state 2014 budget plan to up to 40% \u2014 <\/em>states Dmytro Sherembei, The Head of Charitable foundation \u201ePatients of Ukraine\u201c (UCAB).<\/strong> \u2014 Budget cuts in healthcare means hundreds and thousands of lives, mutilations and disabilities. We need not to cut the already trimmed to minimum budget, having in mind the condition of our hospitals. We need to search for additional funds and prepare the healthcare industry reform package, which was declared by the newly appointed government\u00bb.<\/em><\/p>\n We\u00a0would like to\u00a0remind you, that according to\u00a0the official statement of\u00a0Oleksandr Shlapak, Minister of\u00a0Finance of\u00a0Ukraine, Ukraine\u2019s state budget will be\u00a0reduced by\u00a048\u00a0billion. Other sources announce cut by\u00a065-80\u00a0billion. Mr. Oleh Musiy, Minister of\u00a0Healthcare of\u00a0Ukraine (MOH), on\u00a0March 12th informed that the economization in\u00a0healthcare means\u00a030% reduction from the numbers previously incorporated in\u00a0the state budget for 2014.<\/p>\n \u00abThe reduction of hospital\u2019s costs by 30% without compromising the quality of treatment of seriously ill children and reduction of doctors\u2019 wages is simply impossible, \u2014 <\/em>commented Hanna Gopko, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Special National Childrens\u2019 Hospital \u201eOkhmatdyt\u201c. \u2014 During economic crisis we need to search for alternative ways to fill the budget and to cut expenses for state executives in the sphere\u00bb.<\/em><\/p>\n It\u00a0is\u00a0worth noting, that before adopting the State budget for 2014, the prior government of\u00a0Mykola Azarov was working upon similar scenario and had significantly reduced the budget of\u00a0MOH while increasing the funding of\u00a0defense and law enforcement agencies. In\u00a0the autumn of\u00a02013 this caused a\u00a0huge public and patient community resistance. For instance, the state funding for children with oncology had been reduced by\u00a0almost\u00a070%, namely by\u00a0166\u00a0million. In\u00a0the same time the funding of\u00a0Internal Affairs Ministry was increased by\u00a02\u00a0billion, amounting to\u00a018\u00a0billion. In\u00a0comparison with this number, the funding for whole healthcare was only 9,8\u00a0billion.<\/p>\n In\u00a0addition, in\u00a0their open letter to\u00a0the Prime Minister of\u00a0Ukraine Mr. Yatsenyuk the activists noted that they are willing to\u00a0help in\u00a0search of\u00a0additional funding for Ukraine\u2019s healthcare system and are ready to\u00a0take an\u00a0active part in\u00a0reforming the state\u2019s healthcare system.<\/p>\n