Today, about 50\u00a0people came out for a\u00a0lying protest in\u00a0front of\u00a0the building of\u00a0the Ministry of\u00a0Finance of\u00a0Ukraine. So\u00a0they are trying to\u00a0draw attention to\u00a0the fact that tens of\u00a0thousands of\u00a0Ukrainians will die this year if\u00a0the Ministry of\u00a0Finance does not fund the procurement of\u00a0drugs for Ukrainians living with life-threatening diseases, just as\u00a01607 Ukrainians dying due to\u00a0the lack of\u00a0medicines every day.<\/p>\n
It\u00a0is\u00a0today that the Ministry of\u00a0Finance hosted a\u00a0meeting attended by\u00a0representatives of\u00a0various Departments and Ministries and where the Ministry of\u00a0Finance suggested re-allocating some extra funds from these Ministries and Departments\u2019 budgets to\u00a0procure essential drugs. These government agencies included Security Service of\u00a0Ukraine, Ministry of\u00a0Income and Charges of\u00a0Ukraine, Ministry of\u00a0the Interior, Ministry of\u00a0Education, and others.<\/p>\n
One should note that scarce money on\u00a0medicines that the previous government allocated for Ukrainian patients accounted only for\u00a040% of\u00a0the needs. This year the numbers were reduced by\u00a0half due to\u00a0the devaluation of\u00a0the hryvnia and the additional VAT on\u00a0medicines and make up\u00a0only\u00a020% of\u00a0the needs. The lack of\u00a0funds for medicines constitutes 80%.<\/p>\n
\u00abWhat is\u00a020% of\u00a0human lives? This is\u00a01\u00a0of\u00a05\u00a0Ukrainians who will survive. Because of\u00a0underfunding already in\u00a0September 22\u00a0000\u00a0HIV-positive Ukrainian remain untreated,\u00a0\u2014 <\/em>says Dmytro Sherembey, Chairman CF\u00a0\u201ePatients Ukraine.\u201c\u00a0\u2014 System in\u00a0Ukraine is\u00a0built in\u00a0such a\u00a0way that an\u00a0official in\u00a0the Finance Ministry\u00a0\u2014 in\u00a0fact, just a\u00a0financial officer,\u00a0\u2014 is\u00a0the person who is\u00a0empowered to\u00a0decide by\u00a0a\u00a0signature who live and who will die, which programs will be\u00a0supported, and which ones reduced. \u2014\u00a0We\u00a0know even the name of\u00a0the man\u00a0\u2014 Vladimir Matviichuk, Deputy Minister of\u00a0Finance. This man will decide today\u00a0\u2014 whether to\u00a0re-allocate funds, for example from the Ministry of\u00a0income and fees and repair facilities for the procurement of\u00a0drugs for Ukrainians living with life-threatening diseases.\u00bb<\/em><\/p>\n By\u00a0their event activists also tried to\u00a0reach out to\u00a0the officials who came to\u00a0the meeting to\u00a0the Ministry of\u00a0Finance. Each of\u00a0these officials was compelled to\u00a0step over a\u00a0human bode when they were entering the building. This, according to\u00a0the activists, symbolized how these officials will step over human life, unless they agree to\u00a0reallocate funds from their departments and ministries to\u00a0rescue patients.<\/p>\n \u00abBecause of\u00a0underfunding drug procurement this year, thousands of\u00a0HIV-positive Ukrainian may be\u00a0left without treatment,\u00a0\u2014 says <\/em>Vladimir Zhovtyak, Chairman of\u00a0the Coordination Council of\u00a0the All-Ukrainian Network of\u00a0People Living with HIV\/AIDS. \u2014\u00a0It\u00a0can kill HIV-positive Ukrainians, result a\u00a0new outbreak of\u00a0the epidemic and can cause the disaster, which Ukraine has not seen for the last 10\u00a0years. It\u00a0cannot be\u00a0allowed. We\u00a0will be\u00a0lying here as\u00a0long as\u00a0it\u00a0takes to\u00a0the Ministry of\u00a0Finance to\u00a0hear\u00a0us and save people.\u00bb<\/em> According to\u00a0the estimates of\u00a0the Ministry of\u00a0Health and patients, the Government must re-allocate 4.2 billion hryvnias to\u00a0purchase medicines to\u00a0prevent deaths and humanitarian disaster.<\/p>\n Contact persons:<\/p>\n Ustinova Alexander:
\n<\/i> 067 550 15 70
\n<\/i> Oleksandra.u@ucab.org.ua<\/a><\/p>\n