Affordable Medicines program cannot yet fully meet patient needs – opinion

The Affordable Medicines reimbursement program for the cost of medicinal products cannot yet fully meet the needs of patients, Head of the Association of Pharmacists of Ukraine Olena Omelchuk has said.

"The Affordable Medicines reimbursement program remains one of the most successful state instruments for supporting patients in Ukraine. In recent years, it has significantly expanded both the list of drugs and the geography of access. At the same time, the program cannot yet fully cover patient needs. Primarily, this concerns modern innovative drugs, which often remain outside the scope of reimbursement due to high costs," she told Interfax-Ukraine.

Omelchuk said that currently "the vast majority of the country’s pharmacy network is connected" to the reimbursement program, and the number of drugs available for free or with a partial co-payment continues to increase. She added that one of the main performance indicators is the high level of electronic prescription use and fulfillment by patients.

At the same time, according to her assessment, "for small settlements and frontline territories, the availability of medicines remains problematic; even with a prescription, patients sometimes face the temporary absence of specific drugs in particular pharmacies."

Furthermore, a current functional issue for the program is co-payments, as "for some drugs, the patient still has to pay the difference, and for socially vulnerable groups of the population, this can be a significant financial burden."

Despite these limitations, the Affordable Medicines program today plays a critically important role in ensuring public access to basic treatment, especially under conditions of war and economic instability.

As reported, the Affordable Medicines reimbursement program in 2026 includes 778 items, including 650 medicinal products, 59 insulin preparations, and medical devices. Since May 2026, the list has been updated to include innovative drugs for the treatment of cardiovascular and chronic lung diseases.