Ukrainians to undergo compulsory screenings

The Ministry of Health ordered an obligatory annual medical checkup for Ukrainian citizens. They expect to obtain an exhaustive picture of the population’s health. The order is one of the measures of the state program for the development of primary medical and sanitary aid until 2011, adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on January 22, 2010.

The screening boils down to an annual medical overview for individuals, with laboratory tests for a timely detection of diseases. The district doctor is supposed to schedule medicals for all individuals residing in the district serviced by the local clinic, and keep a record of those who have already been screened, reports Kommersant-Ukraine.

The medical will include a compulsory assessment of height, weight, blood pressure, sight and hearing, as well as blood and urine tests, a chest X-ray, a mammogram for women, and a prostate ultrasound for men. The results of these tests will be recorded in a special datafile developed by the Ministry of Health.

At present it is mostly schoolchildren, college students, pregnant women, individuals engaged in risky trades, and the residents of Chernobyl-affected areas that are subject to screening. However, the Ministry believes that the current screening process is perfunctory at best — people simply get health certificates from their doctors without going through the actual checkup.

Zoia Krushynska, deputy director, department of promotion of medical services at the Ministry of Health, told Kommersant that the Ministry hoped to obtain the true picture of Ukrainians’ health thanks to the screenings. “All age groups will be subject to screening. In the province, we plan to create mobile teams which will give medicals to rural residents,” explained Krushynska. According to her, at present the order is being registered by the Ministry of Justice, after which it will come into effect.

“The preliminary calculations show that nationwide screening will cost nearly six billion hryvnias. After the figures are confirmed by the Cabinet, the program will be launched,” added Krushynska. She also noted that the comprehensive screening of the population may start as early as in 2011.

According to Andrii Huk, deputy chairman of the public council at the Ministry of Health, there are various methods to encourage the population to attend medicals. “For one, the individuals who haven’t been screened will not be eligible to participate in the reimbursement program developed by the Ministry. This program envisages a partial compensation of the cost of domestic medicines, a list of which will be developed by the Ministry.

The medical expenses will be reimbursed at a person’s place of employment or as tax benefits, with various sanctions for fake health certificates. “If a patient is diagnosed with a chronic disease which was not recorded during the screening, both the doctor and the patient will be equally responsible for the forgery,” added Huk.

Meanwhile, physicians see the Ministry’s plans as unrealistic. “Most of the population does not have any job obligations that would ensure screening, like they used to have in the USSR,” said Roman Fedosiuk, M.D., director of the anesthesiology department at the Kyiv Municipal Clinic No.3, in his comment to Kommersant. “It is quite a challenge to force people to pass medicals in a democratic system. This is feasible only through family doctors, who will advise their patients to get a medical checkup. However, family doctors remain an underdeveloped institution in Ukraine.”