The story about how eliminating corrupt tender practices in procuring heart stents saves lives, outlined by Oliver Bullough, the New York Times

The New York Times article about small, pragmatic steps in Ukraine's fight against corruption in the context of the ongoing healthcare system transformation.

On September 3, 2018 the New York Times published the article ‘How Ukraine Is Fighting Corruption One Heart Stent at a Time’ by Oliver Bullough.

The author outlined the key challenges the Ukrainians had faced for decades, including entrenched corruption, high mortality from cardiovascular diseases, medicine shortages, and underlined the current progress in Ukraine’s fight against corruption. Particular attention was paid to the success of international procurement through specialized agencies, which has not only resulted in the elimination of corrupt tender practices, but also in huge savings of the allocated budget funds, used to procure more medicines and healthcare products. The procurement of heart stents helped to save lives and became a good example of the key benefits the healthcare transformation brings for the population.

The Ministry of Health of Ukraine still has to overcome some barriers to making the national healthcare system markedly better, including through the establishement of the national “competent and honest procurement agency”. However, the progress that has been achieved in a short period “shows a way forward”.

Please follow the link below to read the full article by Oliver Bullough on the New York Times website: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/03/opinion/ukraine-corruption-heart-stents-procurement.html