REUTERS

On the average, from UAH 9,000 to UAH 27,000, which is between US$334 and US$1,000 at the current forex rate, is spent on the treatment of a COVID-19 patient in Ukrainian hospitals.

Chairman of the medical commission of Kyiv, a member of the city's council from the Svoboda Party Oleh Gelevey says it is difficult to calculate the exact amount spent per patient. "But we have already calculated with chief doctors that on the average it is from UAH 9,000 to UAH 27,000, depending on complications related to the coronavirus disease," he said at a briefing at UNIAN.

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If patients are in hospital, they do not have to pay for the treatment, he said. The hospitals designated to combat the coronavirus offer the so-called "COVID package," he added.

These hospitals have signed an agreement with the National Health Service of Ukraine to have the reimbursement of COVID-19 treatment costs.

Answering a question how possible coronavirus cases are identified, Gelevey said that there is a law that is designed to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in Ukraine, which "clearly defines an algorithm to act during an epidemic, pandemic."

According to him, a doctor makes up a list of persons who were in contact with a COVID-19 patient, and then hands it over to a local medical center at the patient's place of residence.

"And it is the center which makes calls to check all possible contacts – be it at work or at the place of residence, and they are offered to undergo polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing for free," Gelevey said.

According to him, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) testing is also proposed. "I've already seen situations when people on a patient's contact list undergo PCR tests, which turn to be negative, but ELISA tests later show that the people were already ill, and they also had a coronavirus infection," he added.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the number of residents of Kyiv who tested positive for the coronavirus in the past 24 hours increased by another 114 people.