Photo from UNIAN
First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv says Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers believes the Verkhovna Rada can pass the draft laws on healthcare reform by the end of June, according to an UNIAN correspondent.
After the consideration of the relevant bills in the working group and following the meeting of the National Reforms Council (NRC), the government again submitted them to the Verkhovna Rada taking into account all the comments that had emerged.
The government believes these bills will be approved "by the end of June this year," Kubiv said during the Conciliation Council meeting of the chairs of factions and parliamentary committees.
He believes it is very important that the parliament begin considering draft laws on healthcare reform as early as this plenary week. "This is strategically important since we are talking about people's lives. We cannot postpone the reform any longer, as it’s been done for many years ..." Kubiv stressed.
As UNIAN reported earlier, on April 5, the Cabinet of Ministers approved four bills on health care reform:
Read alsoFT: Ukrainians will finally feel benefit of reforms this year, says PM- On Government Financial Guarantees Regarding the Provision of Health-Care Services and Medicinal Products
- On Amendments to the Budget Code of Ukraine Regarding Primary Care Expenditures
- Amendments to the Fundamental Principles of Legislation of Ukraine on Health Care (amendments to Articles 3, 8, and 35)
- On Additional Government Financial Guarantees Regarding the Provision of Health-Care Services and Medicinal Products to Persons Protecting the Independence, Sovereignty, and Territorial Integrity of Ukraine in the Antiterrorist Operation.
Read alsoG7 Ambassadors vow support of Suprun's healthcare reform in UkraineOn May 18, the Verkhovna Rada did not include any bills on health care reform in its session agenda. The MPs did not support the inclusion of either government-submitted bills on the subject or those initiated by MPs.
June 2, Acting Minister of Health Uliana Suprun expressed hope that the draft laws on the reform of healthcare financing would be included in the Rada’s June 6 agenda.
After the NRC meeting, she told a briefing: "The Ministry of Health and the government submitted to the Verkhovna Rada draft laws on changing the system of healthcare financing as early as April 4, which was a requirement of the strategy for changing healthcare financing adopted by the Cabinet in November 2016." Following this, a working group of 22 MPs finalized the bills.
"Today we discussed the amendments that had already been made, and we are submitting the newly drafted bills. Now there will be two of them – Nos. 6327 and 6329, which we are registering today. We hope that on Tuesday, they will be on the agenda, and we will consider them at the committees already on Wednesday [June 7]," Suprun said.
Read alsoGroysman stands for Suprun's appointment as Health MinisterIn a later Facebook posting, Suprun reported that the two bills had passed a vote to be included in Rada's agenda, adding that she hopes the MPs will go for a "historic step" and adopt a new healthcare system.