Acting Minister of Health Ulana Suprun has signed documents on the free transfer of intellectual property rights from the public to the Ministry of Healthcare. The development of the MVP (minimum viable product) of the National Healthcare System was coordinated by the Project Office created by Transparency International Ukraine and the All-Ukrainian Network of PLWH. Funding was provided by international donors – US and Canadian Governments, the Global Fund, and others. From now on, the Ministry of Healthcare will take care of the further development and implementation of eHealth, for which the state enterprise Electronic Health was created in December 2017. Other documents required to formalize the transfer of eHealth from international donor organizations to the state will be prepared and signed shortly.
The eHealth system has been operating in test mode from September 2017, when the registration of a medical facility and doctors in the system was made technically available, as well as entering the data of patient declarations. After the adoption of the Law of Ukraine “On State Financial Guarantees of Public Health Care” and the establishment of the National Health Service, the state will be able to pay a physician for each patient, and the patients will receive free medical services guaranteed by the state. Thus, eHealth will help realize the principle of “money follows the patient.” Apart from that, the eHealth system contains a functionality developed on the basis of the central component to support the “Affordable Medicines” program.
Ulana Suprun thanked the Project Office team and noted that this work had become an example of how not only to develop an important IT product for the state in the short term. Most importantly, the principles and values that the public, the state and business declared at the beginning of the project, while signing a joint Memorandum, were respected. ” We are very eager to see eHealth working no longer in the test mode, and the doctor’s activities containing less paperwork and more of engagement with the patient. We are grateful and have learned a lot in cooperation with your team. You have created a truly unique thing,” added Acting Minister of Healthcare.
“With donor support, the eHealth Project Office has developed the functionality that was required by the Ministry of Healthcare to initiate the medical reform. We managed to offer such architecture and software components which allow us to develop a full-fledged eHealth system in Ukraine at a minimum cost. This is confirmed by the results of a technical evaluation carried out by an independent expert at the request of the Ministry. The expert made a clear conclusion about the compliance of the proposed solution with the declared characteristics and the signed Memorandum, and MVP eHealth is recommended for commissioning without further reservations. So, from now on, the Project Office at TI Ukraine will cease its activities, but some team members will continue to support eHealth until the information is completely passed on to the team of the Ministry of Healthcare and the newly created SE Electronic Health, ” commented Yurii Buhai, Head of the eHealth Project Office.
“The first stage of implementation of any changes is the most difficult,” said Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, executive director of Transparency International Ukraine. “We expect the state to provide leadership and proactivity in the further development and implementation of the electronic healthcare system.The MoH has declared a very ambitious program of change, and we will have to overcome a lot of obstacles along the way. We have virtually created the future for us today, but what it is going to be like depends on all of us. From now on, the task of the public sector is to ensure that the pace of this reform is stable, and eHealth development continues with the observance of the declared principles”, he added.
Dmytro Sherembey, chairman of the Coordinating Board of the All-Ukrainian Network of PLWH, noted that the introduction of the National Electronic Health Care System aims to save patients’ lives. After all, transparency and access to information is a prerequisite for every Ukrainian citizen to receive accessible and timely medical care. “It is important that every patient knows his doctor and receives qualitative help and each doctor has a clear and honest motivation,” said Dmytro.
