As\u00a0soon as\u00a0next year Ukraine will not provide treatment for patients with hepatitis\u00a0C for the public funds. The State Program on\u00a0prevention, diagnosis and treatment of\u00a0viral hepatitis for 2013-2016 ends this year. If\u00a0the Cabinet of\u00a0Ministers fails to\u00a0continue this State Program, treatment of\u00a0hepatitis will become unavailable for the Ukrainian patients. Today, on\u00a0the World Hepatitis Day the CF\u00a0\u00abPatients of\u00a0Ukraine\u00bb and 42\u00a0NGOs addressed to\u00a0the Prime Minister of\u00a0Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman and acting Health Minister Ulyana Suprun with an\u00a0open appeal calling to\u00a0continue the social State Program on\u00a0treatment of\u00a0viral hepatitis.<\/p>\n
It\u00a0should be\u00a0emphasized that in\u00a02012 when there was no\u00a0State Program the most Ukrainian patients with hepatitis\u00a0C could not afford this treatment because of\u00a0its high cost. For example, a\u00a0treatment course with pegylated interferon cost about 15\u00a0thousand dollars. After adoption of\u00a0the Program the cost of\u00a0one year treatment due to\u00a0public wholesale procurement decreased three times\u00a0\u2014 down to\u00a05\u00a0thousand dollars.<\/p>\n
\u00abNow Ukraine faces a\u00a0choice: either to\u00a0provide the necessary treatment to\u00a0the patients and contain the epidemic of\u00a0hepatitis or\u00a0to\u00a0roll back to\u00a02012, when the patients with hepatitis\u00a0C were condemned to\u00a0a\u00a0slow death. If\u00a0the Government does not continue the State Program, Ukraine will not be\u00a0able to\u00a0procure medicines for special prices, which the patients fought for so\u00a0long. In\u00a0fact, this means that the State condemns all patients with hepatitis\u00a0C to\u00a0a\u00a0slow death because treatment will become unaffordable for ordinary Ukrainians<\/em>\u00bb, indicated Olga Stefanyshyna<\/strong>, Executive Director of\u00a0CF\u00a0\u00abPatients of\u00a0Ukraine\u00bb.<\/p>\n Today due to\u00a0effective organization of\u00a0the medicines procurement through the international organizations Ukraine purchased pegylated interferon for about 2500\u00a0USD for treatment course, which is\u00a035% cheaper than the price paid by\u00a0MoH in\u00a02014. Additionally, international organizations also purchased innovative medicine Sofosbuvir for 1460\u00a0USD, which is\u00a063\u00a0times cheaper than the price for this medicine in\u00a0the USA.<\/p>\n Ukraine ranks first among the European countries for hepatitis C\u00a0incidence. In\u00a0Ukraine about 9-10% of\u00a0the population is\u00a0infected with hepatitis\u00a0\u0421, while its incidence in\u00a0the European countries varies from 0,13% to\u00a03,26%.<\/p>\n Another problem is\u00a0in\u00a0the lack of\u00a0official register of\u00a0patients with hepatitis in\u00a0Ukraine, neither is\u00a0there a\u00a0large-scale screening in\u00a0place. At\u00a0the same time according to\u00a0the experts\u2019 estimates about 3,5 million citizens suffer from this deadly disease.<\/p>\n \u00abI\u00a0was infected with hepatitis\u00a0B and\u00a0C in\u00a0the Ohmatdyt when\u00a0I was 5\u00a0years old. Medications for hepatitis are very expensive. I\u2019ve been living with this disease over 20\u00a0years. Like thousands of\u00a0other patients, I\u00a0cannot afford the necessary medications. This year thanks to\u00a0the State Program I\u00a0received not only treatment, but also a\u00a0chance to\u00a0live a\u00a0full life without hepatitis<\/em>\u00bb, reported Iryna Revenko<\/strong>, a\u00a0patient with hepatitis\u00a0C, a\u00a0representative of\u00a0the CF\u00a0\u00abPatients of\u00a0Ukraine\u00bb. Every day we\u00a0received calls from the patients and\u00a090% of\u00a0all calls come from the patients with hepatitis\u00a0C, who found themselves in\u00a0the dead-end. Though the State Program is\u00a0underfunded, still it\u00a0allows many patients to\u00a0receive medicines paid by\u00a0the state and combat this deadly disease, she added.<\/p>\n Officially Ukraine reports 44\u00a0thousand patients with hepatitis\u00a0C who need treatment, but only\u00a05% receive medicines paid under the State Program.<\/p>\n For your information<\/strong>:<\/p>\n Experience of\u00a0Georgia, where the government assumed responsibility for fighting the epidemic in\u00a0the country under the ten-year program on\u00a0elimination of\u00a0hepatitis\u00a0C and successfully fights the deadly disease is\u00a0a\u00a0good example for Ukraine.<\/p>\n The Georgian government announced 2015 the year of\u00a0combating hepatitis C.\u00a0Already in\u00a02015 about 5\u00a0million patients in\u00a0Georgia received free medicines and further it\u00a0is\u00a0planned to\u00a0increase the number of\u00a0treated patients up\u00a0to\u00a020\u00a0thousand.<\/p>\n