KYIV. March 30 (Interfax-Ukraine) - The national list of essential medicines does not block purchases of drugs in the regions under regional programs, Deputy Minister of Health Roman Ilyk has said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine.

"The statement that the national list blocks regional programs for purchase of medicines is not true, and each region has the right to purchase medicines through regional programs," he said.

Ilyk noted that the previously existing procurement mechanism at the regional level had been ineffective for many years due to high prices for drugs, delaying tenders, preparing tender documents for a particular participant. At the same time, some of drugs did not have proven effectiveness.

In turn, the mechanism of the initial 100% provision with medicines from the national list will maximize the use of budgetary funds for the purchase of the most essential drugs for patients with proven effectiveness.

The deputy minister also noted the need to fix in a separate article the amount of funds from state subventions for the purchase of medicines by local budgets.

"We need to make sure that the funds allocated for the purchase of medicines be fixed [in the state subvention] as a separate article, like wages or energy sources, on which the Ministry of Health is working together with the Ministry of Finance," the official said.