Lihachova Y. R., Beschastna D. O., Ivanova T. V.

Oles Honchar Dnipropetrovsk National University

THE SITUATION ON THE MEDICAL SERVICES’ MARKET IN UKRAINE

Health – is the most important component of the social sphere, one of the main factors of national security, which determines the life of society. Therefore, the reform of the health care industry today has received considerable attention. At the same time, due to the deterioration of the environmental situation, the crisis in the economy and the low-life health status deteriorates. Deterioration contributes to reducing the number of doctors and the wear out of the material and technical base of medical institutions.

According to official data of the Ministry of Health public health of Ukraine for the past ten years, has deteriorated significantly. Today the population is suffering from the combined action of the economic, environmental and demographic crisis. Over the past ten years, the population of Ukraine has decreased by 7.7%, while at the same time greatly increased incidence of disease in most categories’. Life expectancy in Ukraine is 11 years less than in the EU.

It is due to the health crisis. The number of medical personnel has significantly decreased over the last decade. According to Ministry of Health staff deficit reached 14.2 thousand nurses and 16.8 thousand doctors. Medical doctors at the end of 2011 were 27.1 per 10 thousand population, which is lower than the average level of 33 per 10 thousand people. According to representatives of the Health Ministry, the shortage of personnel in Ukraine is due to low wages. So in 2010, the average wages of doctors according to official data were about $ 350 a month. Determining the exact capacity of the medical services in Ukraine is impossible because of the large share of the shadow economy in the market. According to the former Minister of Health Nikolai Polishchuk , the profit of unofficial health agencies providing services exceeds 20 billion USD.

Although, according to independent research, capacity of the market according to Goskomstat is significantly undervalued. So according to the research company, GFK-USM and Comcon Ukraine (annual research style of living), the market of medical services are estimated at $ 5 billion. According to the Ministry of Health, each year about 15 million people are in need of emergency medical care services. Every year the number of persons assisted by teams SMP is about 13.8 million, representing approximately 97.6% of the need. This situation is due to the low level of technical support of ambulances. Equipment worn-out is 80 – 90% for today. In Ukraine, the rules of SMP machines were no norms are accepted and used in the USSR, according to which one machine should fall by 20 thousand people. On average, each year there are 300 calls to emergency services per 1000 people.

The large capacity of the market led to the development of competition in it. During 2010, the number of granted licenses for medical services increased by 2.2 million units. For the provision of outpatient services in total in Ukraine were issued 1,500 licenses. According to market operators, most private health care generalists concentrated in Kiev variously estimated the number of private clinics in Kiev from 500 to 1000 institutions in various fields (many specialized clinics, specialist clinics, diagnostic centers, companies that do not have their own offices’, and provide some medical services). The largest share of the market is the clinic "Medic", "Dobrobut", "Biofarmtekh", Eurolab and "American Medical Center".

According to the State Statistics Committee of "self-population health status and level of access to health care in 2010," 45.5% of the population assessed their health as satisfactory, 11.8% rated their health as poor. During 2010, 96% of households in Ukraine, any member of the household needed medical care. More than 32.2 million people in 2010 had the disease and had to go to the doctor. Among the respondents who had hospital treatment, only 6.0% had no problems, 89.8% of respondents had to pay for drugs, 61.4% – linen, 77.3% – food. 35.4 million people had to take medical care in 2010 (in 2009 – 35.3 million).

 Thus, most of the population of Ukraine isn’t satisfied with the quality of service in public health facilities and is ready to provide a preference to private institutions. And almost all of the citizens do not believe in free medicine and, according to various studies, the average citizen of Ukraine spends 100 to $ 400 per a year on health care.