The first medicines bought by international institutions using 2016 budget funds will be delivered late November, acting Health Minister of Ukraine Ulana Suprun has said.

"We have approved the last three ICD diseases at a government meeting on Wednesday. There was a delay as we had to adjust the new procedure for collecting applications to buy TB drugs. We have signed contracts for ICD diseases. We would sign the contracts for these last diseases by the end of this week. First supplies will be at the end of November," she told reporters on the sidelines of the Vaccine Summit in Kyiv on Thursday.

Suprun said that next week the Health Ministry seeks to start collecting applications to buy medicines using 2017 budget funds and by late January to sign contracts with international institutions.

She said that the applications will be collected using the updated procedure.

Suprun said that one more international institution - Partnership for Supply Chain Management (PFSCM) – could take part in medicine procurement in 2017.

As reported, in October the Health Ministry signed contracts with UNICEF, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Britain's Crown Agents to buy medicines for 2016 budget funds.