Developing primary health care in amalgamated hromadas and managing resources to ensure high quality health care were the focus of a two-day workshop organised by U-LEAD in cooperation with the Kharkiv Expert Group on Health Care Reform.

The event took place on 6-7 March 2017 in Kharkiv and was attended by almost 100 participants, including health care professionals and representatives of local self-government of 30 amalgamated hromadas from 18 regions of Ukraine, officials of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the Kharkiv Regional State Administration, representatives of international organisations and diplomatic missions, regional centres of the Local Self-Government Development Centre, NGOs and experts.   

“U-LEAD’s objective is to support amalgamated hromadas in assuming their newly assigned responsibilities and to promote partnerships and networks across administrative levels”, said Anja Fischer, U-LEAD’s Sectoral Decentralisation Team Leader. “The goal is to provide better services that meet the needs of the hromadas.”

The seminar provided participants with an opportunity to learn about the progress of primary health care reform and the actions planned by the Ministry of Health in 2017, better understand the concept and the mechanisms of functioning of hospital districts, and explore the various ways of raising funds to improve their medical infrastructure, increasing the quality of healthcare services and attracting doctors to work in the primary healthcare facilities of amalgamated hromadas.

Speaking to the seminar participants, Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine Pavlo Kovtoniuk said: “We work a lot with amalgamated hromadas because we believe that health care reform is happening on two levels simultaneously: the national level, where certain rules, national priorities and mechanisms are established, and the local level, where practical implementation of the reform takes place. This is why we consider local self-government bodies to be our key partner.”

During the practical sessions, representatives of the amalgamated hromadas (AHs) were offered a set of tools developed by the Kharkiv Expert Group which allowed them to determine the optimal setup of their primary health care network, calculate the budget of a family doctor’s practice, and prepare an investment plan to develop local health care infrastructure taking into account AHs needs and financial capabilities.     

Discussions during the seminar were summarised in a resolution which, once finalised and signed by the participants, will be disseminated among the relevant authorities.