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The Ministry of Health of Ukraine signed a memorandum of understanding with the Eurasia Foundation (Transparency and Accountability in Public Administration and Services Program / TAPAS) on the implementation of the e-procurement development project. The project will open up opportunities for a large-scale development of the system for electronic procurement of medicines, medical devices, and other healthcare products in Ukraine, and will contribute to ensuring the professionalization of public procurement in the health sector.

This is an important step towards implementing the Concept of Reforming Procurement of Medicines and Medical Devices, and other Healthcare Products, which was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on September 26, 2018.

The new Concept aims to provide access to high-quality treatment in ways that are most convenient for the patient. To achieve this, the best delivery option will be selected for each medicine and healthcare product currently listed in the centralized procurement system, including through reimbursement programs, medical service costs, or the Central Procurement Agency’s purchases.

The priority areas for the implementation of the Eurasia Foundation's project, the Transparency and Accountability in Public Administration and Services Program / TAPAS, are as follows:

• drafting amendments to the Law on Public Procurement and other legislation;
• integrating additional e-procurement functionality;
• creating the concept of developing an effective electronic system for management and reporting of balances of procured medicines, medical devices, and other healthcare products;
• organizing trainings and launching the Centre of Excellence for the Procurement Profession at the Kyiv School of Economics to expand the base of procurement specialists.

If fully implemented, these steps will contribute to the establishment and effective operation of the Central Procurement Agency (CPA) in Ukraine. The CPA will carry centralized procurement of medicines and healthcare products included in the strategic programs (vaccines, infectious diseases), and of expensive patented medicines, for the allocated funds from the state budget. In addition, the Agency will work on reducing prices for medicines and healthcare products in the Ukrainian market, aggregating local demand, making framework agreements, creating and maintaining electronic catalogs, etc.

The new Concept implementation is planned for 2018-2021.

The Central Procurement Agency will be established by the end of this year.

Currently, experts are working on elaboration of a road map for the project implementation.