The state has allocated funds to open over 500 first aid stations in 2013, Health Minister of Ukraine Raisa Bohatyriova has said.

"The state has allocated significant funds to provide first aid stations with everything they need. Over 500 such stations will open in Ukraine this year," Bohatyriova said during an open lecture for the students of 19 Ukrainian medical universities.

The minister said such centers would open not just in pilot regions, but in all places where the local authorities had taken relative decisions.

According to Bohatyriova, urgent modernization of the healthcare system is needed for a number of reasons. First of all, establishments where people earlier received necessary medical aid have failed to fulfill their duties properly. Moreover, the constant shortfalls of financing caused a catastrophic worsening of the level of technical equipment of hospitals.

"The social vulnerability of doctors, the low level of income of medical employees are the reasons for the falling prestige of professions and, as a result, the deficit of qualified personnel and the spontaneous commercialization of medical services," Bohatyriova said.

In addition, there is a problem of the wasteful use of money in the medical sector.