Viktor Liashko: Three main criteria for the patient should be provided locally - quality, accessibility and free medical care

Now we must provide three main criteria for the patient – quality, accessibility, and free medical care. This was stated by Viktor Liashko during a meeting with the leadership of the Lviv regional state administration, the National Health Service, representatives of local self-government bodies, and heads of medical institutions of the Zolochiv raion. 

During the inspection of the Zolochiv District Hospital, a number of gaps in the existing system of providing medical care at the hospital level were identified. 

Local authorities who own hospitals and heads of medical institutions should join forces to achieve the main goal of the infrastructure stage of medical reform – providing the necessary quality medical services in the relevant territory through mechanisms that will be financially sustainable in the medium term. 

“Over the past three years, through various mechanisms, we have financed additional medical institutions from the state budget that were unable to pay salaries to doctors at their own expense. During this time, hospital managers had to make managerial decisions so that hospitals would become financially independent and have funds not only to provide wages but also to purchase medicines and develop the institution. However, in some medical institutions, the situation remained at the same level. Therefore, the question is not in the management decisions that were made at the national level, but in the chaotic management of the system at the regional level,” the Minister of Health said.  

Viktor Liashko also reminded that the formula for a financially successful medical institution is when the salary fund is no more than 70-85% of the total revenue from the National Health Service. At the same time, each hospital should still have funds for the purchase of medicines and medical devices, nutrition, and development. 

According to the Minister of Health, a capable network of medical institutions should be created within each enlarged district, which will cover all the necessary basic services for patients. 

In particular, access to medical care in case of stroke is currently restricted in the Zolochiv raion. Also, patients do not have the opportunity to receive such services as mammography, bronchoscopy, cystoscopy, etc. 

“Now we must provide three main criteria for the patient — quality, accessibility, and free medical care. However, when one surgeon performs three operations a month (about 36 operations a year), this is an extremely low burden on the doctor. First of all, there is a question of the quality of medical care and the safety of the patient who gets on the table to this surgeon. At the same time, in order to ensure the quality of medical services, the surgeon must perform about 150 operations a year,” Viktor Liashko stressed during a meeting with the heads of medical institutions of the Zolochiv raion.

This problem can be solved by effectively managing a capable network within the hospital district and hospital cluster. Creating a single medical space will allow building high-quality patient routes, avoiding duplication of services in one territory, and creating an optimal burden on medical workers.