Ukrainian clinics have signed more than 100 memorandums of understanding as part of the international medical partnership program launched under the patronage of Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska.
According to the Ministry of Health, 26 of these memorandums were signed with medical institutions in France and are being implemented with the support of Expertise France, the French interministerial agency for international cooperation and development.
For example, as part of the partnership, the Chernihiv Regional Children’s Hospital is collaborating with the University Hospital of Lille, and the Chernihiv Regional Psychoneurological Hospital is collaborating with the University Hospital of Nîmes.
The Ministry of Health notes that in June 2024, the governments of Ukraine and France signed an intergovernmental grant agreement totaling 200 million euros, part of which is allocated to the healthcare sector and critical infrastructure: seven agreements in the healthcare sector have been signed, totaling 51 million euros. In addition, in 2024, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ratified framework agreements between Ukraine and France on cooperation in the reconstruction and modernization of hospitals and in oncology diagnostics.
FRANCE, international partnership, MEDICINE, Ministry of Health
Odrex Medical Center (Dom Meditsiny LLC, Odessa) has undergone an inspection for compliance with licensing conditions, and the Ministry of Health has confirmed its compliance, according to the clinic’s CEO Tigran Arutyunyan.
“In January 2026, a commission from the Ukrainian Ministry of Health conducted an unscheduled inspection of Odrex Medical Center’s compliance with licensing conditions. Based on the results of the inspection, the Ministry of Health confirmed that Odrex Medical Center fully complies with licensing conditions, operates within the law, and has no violations,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
Arutyunyan specified that the inspection lasted three days and covered key areas of the hospital’s activities.
He noted that “Odrex continues to provide medical care as planned.”
As reported, two doctors from the Odrex clinic were accused of causing the death of its 62-year-old patient, businessman Adnan Kivan, who was undergoing treatment for cancer at the Odrex medical center from May to October 2024. He died on October 27, 2024.
During the investigation on October 24, 2025, investigators handed over suspicions to the head of surgical department No. 2, surgeon-oncologist Vitaly Rusakov, and clinical oncologist and chemotherapist Marina Bilotserkovskaya.
The clinic officially expressed its willingness to cooperate with the investigation and called on the media to avoid unproven accusations against its doctors in the patient’s death and to wait for the official conclusions of the investigation. At the same time, the clinic believes that this investigation is of a commissioned nature.
For its part, the Ministry of Health launched an unscheduled inspection of the Odrex clinic after this incident.
Three medical institutions in Kyiv, Kropyvnytskyi, and Zaporizhzhia received new 1.5 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines purchased by the state-owned enterprise Medical Procurements of Ukraine (MPU).
According to a press release from MZU, the GE Healthcare Signa Champion MRI machines were received by the Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine in Kyiv, the City Emergency Hospital in Kropyvnytskyi, and the City Emergency and Ambulance Hospital in Zaporizhzhia.
“The purchased models provide high-quality imaging without the use of ionizing radiation and are designed for detailed examination of the central nervous system, cardiovascular system, abdominal and pelvic organs, musculoskeletal system, as well as for the detection of oncological changes,” the Ministry of Health reports.
The devices were purchased by order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine in 2024. These three MRI machines are the final deliveries of this equipment from the batch purchased under the 2024 budget.
In total, in 2023-2024, the Ministry of Health purchased 33 MRI machines with a magnetic field strength of 1.5 and 3 Tesla. In 2025, the Ministry of Health purchased 20 such devices with a power of 1.5 Tesla with funds from the European Union within the framework of the Ukraine Facility program.
HOSPITAL, Kropyvnytskyi, Ministry of Health, MRI, Zaporizhzhia
Thanks to the implementation of the State Strategy for Combating Antibiotic Resistance, Ukraine has reduced its consumption of reserve antibiotics by 2-2.5 times since 2022.
According to the Ministry of Health, in particular, the consumption of broad-spectrum antibiotics ceftriaxone has been reduced by half, and levofloxacin by 2.5 times.
“The reduction in the consumption of reserve antibiotics indicates that doctors prefer other, less potent first-line antibiotics whenever possible. This allows important drugs to be saved for cases where other antibiotics are ineffective,” explains the Ministry of Health.
In addition, the Ministry of Health notes an increase in the consumption of oral forms of antibiotics. In particular, in 2024, only 8% of all antibiotic prescriptions were in the form of injections.
The Ministry of Health emphasizes that, according to WHO data, as of 2023, almost one in six confirmed bacterial infections worldwide are already resistant to standard treatment, and in 2019, nearly 5 million deaths worldwide were linked to antibiotic resistance.
“Antibiotics are critically important medicines. If you take them just in case or not as prescribed, they lose their potency because bacteria easily become resistant to them. Their resistance is our vulnerability. Among the main causes of antibiotic resistance are the excessive use of antibiotics and non-compliance with the course of treatment prescribed by a doctor,” the Ministry of Health notes.
Reserve antibiotics are drugs that are prescribed in extreme cases to treat severe bacterial infections when first-line (“access group”) and second-line (“observation group”) antibiotics have proven ineffective. They are used only when there is an immediate threat to life, in order to avoid losing their effectiveness due to resistance.
The European pharmaceutical association Medicines for Europe, the Ministry of Health, and the Association of Ukrainian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (AVLU) have signed a memorandum of partnership in the field of critical medicines. The memorandum was signed on the sidelines of the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC2025) in Rome last week.
According to Adrian Van Den Goevaert, CEO of Medicines for Europe, Ukraine’s participation in the Critical Medicines Alliance and its experience in sharing responses, together with regulatory integration into EU systems based on alignment with EU technical and procedural rules, anti-corruption measures, the creation of an independent medicines agency in Ukraine, and mutual recognition of GMP certificates are becoming key priorities for EU-Ukraine pharmaceutical cooperation.
For his part, Anatoliy Reder, CEO of the pharmaceutical company Interchem (Odessa), noted that the memorandum will enable Ukrainian pharmaceutical companies to participate in the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for EU countries.
“The memorandum shows that Ukraine is highly developed in the field of pharmaceutical production and is ready to participate in supplying critical medicines to EU countries. We already have certain positions from the list of critical medicines and can very quickly ensure the production of the rest. We can produce APIs in the quantities required by the EU,” he said.
According to Reder, the production of APIs and drugs from the critical list will be convenient for both Ukraine and the EU.
“Ukraine has a highly developed and modern production control system. The requirements for the production of medicines in Ukraine are sometimes higher than in European countries, so we can ensure reliable supplies of high-quality products,” he said.
At the same time, Reder noted that in order to launch a project for the production of critical medicines, European manufacturers need support from European official bodies so that they can include Ukrainian production sites in their dossiers as additional sources of APIs.
Medicines for Europe, MEMORANDUM, Ministry of Health, PARTNERSHIP, PHARMACEUTICAL MANUFACTURERS
The Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers of Ukraine (APLU) supports the compromise draft government resolution developed by the Ministry of Health to regulate the size of marketing payments in the retail pharmaceutical market at 20% for over-the-counter drugs and 3% for prescription drugs.
This is stated in the text of the relevant declaration available to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
APLU members support the proposal to allow marketing expenses in pharmacies for over-the-counter drugs at a level not exceeding 20% of the total sales of each individual licensee (manufacturer, importer, etc.) of such drugs for the previous year, as well as expenses for services related to ensuring the availability of prescription drugs in pharmacies, in an amount not exceeding 3% of the total sales of each individual manufacturer or importer of such drugs for the previous year.
The APLU explains that “this is a compromise solution reached as a result of interdepartmental consultations, and it now best reflects the achievable balance of interests of all market participants involved—manufacturers, importers, and pharmacies.”
According to APLU members, the draft proposed by the Ministry of Health, in particular, establishes clear rules for the functioning of the market in the marketing services segment and creates a predictable and flexible system that minimizes the risks of abuse and “stimulates the development of fair competition based on product quality and service quality, not just marketing budgets.
In addition, APLU members note that the draft is “a stabilizing tool that prevents a payment crisis at all links in the distribution chain, reduces the risks of monopolization of communication channels, and allows jobs to be preserved and the population to have access to quality medicines at fair prices.”
At the same time, APLU participants propose to adopt the draft “as soon as possible as a transitional but fundamental solution that will stabilize the market” and, after the resolution comes into force, to conduct regular monitoring together with all market participants and state authorities to assess its impact and initiate improvements to the tools, if necessary, ensuring public reporting and transparency of information on the structure of marketing costs and their impact on pricing and the preservation of competition.
“We call on all market participants to join this declaration. The reform of the rules should not be achieved by dismantling the pharmacy sector or demonizing marketing, but through the introduction of clear, controllable, and ethical practices,” the APLU emphasizes.
Source: https://ru.interfax.com.ua/news/pharmacy/1080866.html
