Corruption should be removed during reformation of health system, privatization is not urgent, says health minister
During the reformation of the healthcare system in Ukraine corruption should be removed, although the country should not be in a hurry with privatization, the newly appointed health minister, Alexander Kvitashvili, said at a briefing on Wednesday.
"The liquidation of corruption scheme is my goal of coming to the ministry," he said.
The minister said that the country is in the state of war and the situation in the east will not be settled soon.
"We should remember this and count how much money we spend, as corruption helps the external aggressor," he said.
Kvitashvili said that the healthcare system should be changed.
"We're here to build everything from a zero. It's better to start from a zero than to change the existing models," he said.
The minister supports the idea of removing state procurement from the competence of the Health Ministry.
He said that state medicine procurement should be conducted under public electronic procedures.
"We'll work with UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) and other international organizations under the state procurement system. The Health Ministry will not act as a buyer," he said.
Commenting on the privatization in the healthcare system, Kvitashvili said that it is early to speak about the privatization schemes.
"Georgian reforms were different. Ukraine is 10 times bigger. We will have to do many steps on the optimization of healthcare," he said.