Peculiarities of family medicine functioning and provision of medical services: experience of the European Union and lessons for Ukraine

Abstract

The development and promotion of health care and the functioning of primary care in general has a positive impact on health care system in the country. However, such a positive impact is possible only in the case of the efficiency and accessibility of medical services at this stage, when the family doctor is able to provide quality and comprehensive range of services, cooperate with other doctors, and carry out high-level preventive measures. The principles on which family medicine is built create the preconditions for doctors to compete with each other for patients, which directly affects the quality of services provided. For a long time, Ukraine has ignored the recommendations of international organizations, including the World Health Organization, on the need to reform the health sector. Experts determine that only since 2010 in is possible to talk about a slow, unstable and unplanned start of reform actions. In 2010, in accordance with the official statistics of the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, the state expenditures on health care amounted to 1042 UAH per 1 Ukrainian, while each citizen spent another UAH 750 to purchase medicines. In comparison, the average salary of 1 medical worker was 1,778 UAH, which is about 43% less than the salary of 1 employee in industry and 67% less as in the financial sector. The domestic researchers state that overall public funding for health care has been ineffective and that wages have not met global standards. For example, a health worker received an average of 2,536 euros in Finland, 898 euros in Portugal, 800 euros in Lithuania, and 572 euros in Bulgaria in 2010. In this study, we focused on the functioning of the procedure for providing medical services in the European Union and outlining key lessons for Ukraine. Nowadays, the reform of the health care sector and the entire system of medical services has become a real necessity for the socio-economic development of Ukraine. Since then, the state is gradually introducing major reform measures.