Тhe European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Sweden have issued funds for an information campaign to promote a solid waste treatment project in Lviv, for which the EBRD together with environmental funds allocated EUR35 million. “In Ukraine, more than 95% of solid waste is brought to landfills, 99% of which do not meet EU standards and carry environmental, safety and health risks. In Sweden, in 2018 less than 1% of solid waste was brought to landfills, and more than 99% was recycled,” Ambassador of Sweden Tobias Thyberg said during the official launch of the program in Kyiv.
Within the framework of the project, which is designed for three years, a number of Internet resources will be created, as well as events with mass media, the public and non-governmental organizations will be carried out. The communications agency Noblet Media CIS is implementing the project, and its cost is not disclosed.
“Today, garbage is an element of politics. I would like this issue to be outside of politics,” Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy said.
According to him, after setting fire to the landfill in the Velyki Hrybovychi village, the city has been suffering a garbage blockade for almost two years, and the EBRD and other European partners came to the rescue first. The mayor noted that the city is very interested in the implementation of this project, since it annually has to spend UAH 300 million on garbage removal.
The average bill of a foreign patient who is treated in Ukrainian clinics, is $2,000-2,500, not taking into account transport and accommodation costs, the Ukrainian Association of Medical Tourism (UAMT) said at a roundtable devoted to medical tourism in Ukraine, the situation with it and its prospects held in Kyiv last week.
According to UAMT, currently in Ukraine, about 120 clinics in different regions of Ukraine receive foreign patients.
According to UAMT Head Violetta Yanyshevska, the most attractive for foreign patients in Ukraine are plastic surgery, dentistry, sanatorium-resort treatment, reproductive technologies, rehabilitation, treatment of ophthalmologic diseases, heart surgery and cell therapy. She said that the leaders in receiving foreign patients in Ukraine are reproductive clinics. At the same time, Yanyshevska said that in matters of medical tourism, “this is not about competition between clinics, but about competition between countries.”
The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development is ready to provide Ukraine with a loan for investment projects in the field of cancer treatment, Ukraine’s Ministry of Health said on its official website. According to its data, the issues of cooperation were discussed at the fourth meeting of the Ukrainian-Kuwaiti intergovernmental commission on economic, technical and trade cooperation. “In particular, the parties discussed investment projects for cancer treatment and bone marrow transplantation. It’s not a secret to anyone that these issues are the most painful for our healthcare system. For example, this year about UAH 580 million has been spent on the Treatment Abroad program from the national budget. That is why we need investment projects that would develop transplantation in Ukraine,” Deputy Health Minister Pavlo Kovtoniuk said.
During the meeting, Health Minister of Kuwait Basel Hamoud Al-Sabah and Kovtoniuk discussed the progress of healthcare reforms in Ukraine.
“The Kuwaiti side is very interested in the changes we are introducing, because in the near future we plan to significantly reform the financing system of this industry. The Deputy Health Minister of Kuwait noted that the system should be as effective as possible regardless of how much money the country allocates for medicine. That is why he considers primary development to be the priority and is interested in our experience,” Kovtoniuk said.
The Social Insurance Fund of Ukraine in H1 2018 sent 16,500 insured persons for rehabilitation treatment, which is 34% more than a year ago. The press service of the fund reported that the figure was made possible thanks to the introduction of the targeted medical rehabilitation mechanism from January 1, 2018. The fund said that since early 2018, the fund covers all working Ukrainians with targeted rehabilitation treatment, which is financed using the money of the fund. At present, 51 health and spa establishments joined the program providing rehabilitation treating using the fund’s money.
Currently the fund is taking care of over 12 million people.
As reported, since January 1, 2018, the number of health institutions sending patients to rehabilitation using the fund’s money almost tripled. Before January 1, 2018, a total of 456 institutions had agreements signed with the fund.
There are around 1,600 health establishments in Ukraine today.
