01.03.2018

Today, on 1 March, a project “Friendly medicine” was presented. Experts,specialists and Mariupol activists joined efforts to implement the medicalreform according to the best European standards.

 

The project is consisted of several components: trainings for specialistsof the Center of the Primary Healthcare, information campaign on the implementation of medical reform in the city and an informationcampaign to popularize advices to medical specialists in case of illnessinstead of self-treatment.

 

An informationcampaign should help Mariupol residents to make sense of the reform, tounderstand new approaches to the provision of medical care in order toappreciate the benefits of concluding an agreement with a family doctor.

 

Specialists ofmedical sphere will learn modern approaches to customer-centeredness andfriendly communication with patients. A process of staff development will beaccompanied by the transformation of the registries of medical institutionsinto modern front offices, where any citizen can easily get comprehensiveinformation upon their request.

 

“Reform isalways a worrying process. However, it is an opportunity to rebuild the oldsystem, make medical services more available and quality for people, to build confidenceof Mariupol citizens to municipal medicine and attract youth into the city”, - asKsenia Sukhova, Deputy Mayor of Mariupol, mentioned.

 

For today, about50 % of Mariupol doctors have reached the retirement age. At the same time,state medical institutions staffed only by 70 % specialists.

 

“The currentsituation with providing of medical services needs a comprehensive transformation.That is why, Mariupol community came to the consensus of reform’s necessity. Itis important for citizens to understand what is happening, to know whatdecisions local authorities make, and have the opportunity to influence theiradoption. The goal of our project is to make medical services better, simplerand more available”, - said Ulyana Tokareva, a Project Manager and a Head ofthe Regional Center for Training and Development.

 

Mariupol plansto solve the issue with personnel with the help of young specialists. MariupolCity Council has already developed a motivational program that will attractgraduates from Medical high establishment institutions from Kramatorsk andother cities to work and live in Mariupol.

 

The project “FriedlyMedicine” is implemented by the NGO “Mariupol Development Fund” in cooperationwith Mariupol City Council in the framework of the “Ukraine Confidence BuildingInitiative” project (UCBI II) funded by the United States Agency forInternational Development (USAID).