The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation’s project “Ask the Doctor” is a weekly online meeting with Ukraine’s leading health care experts. Doctors talk about the situation with the health care system, share best practices for treating diseases, and talk about coronavirus in a simple and straightforward way, which is extremely important nowadays. To date, more than 50 broadcasts have been held. The guest of the next broadcast was Ivan Soroka, advisor to the Minister of Health of Ukraine, president of NGO “Ukrainian Medical Club”, and practicing physician.
The expert stressed that creating a common health care electronic space was a pressing issue facing Ukraine today. He explained what his purpose was:
– This is the way to a modern health care system. I would like very much that a citizen of Ukraine, regardless of where they live, be it Kiev or Rivne, could get standardized, high-quality, accessible, effective and mostly free medical care in any medical institution.
According to him, such a space would also help develop a patient itinerary. That is, it is necessary to refer the patient to the place where the best care for their case will be provided. Ivan Soroka added that to accomplish this, it was necessary to pull activities of health care institutions in Ukraine under the umbrella of a common health care information network:
– All patients should have access to standardized and monitored medical services and, when they come to any health care facility, understand that it is safe and financially accessible. So far, there is no supervisory body for such services in Ukraine.
The expert also expressed his opinion about vaccination against coronavirus.
“In general, vaccination is not a barrier to any other medical intervention. And, most likely, in most cases, the treatment of your other diseases will be safer,” Ivan Soroka explained.
Since the start of the broadcasting of “Ask the Doctor” on digital platforms of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, the content of the project has been watched more than 21 million times. Previously, experts of live broadcasts were such renowned experts as Boris Todurov, a famous cardiac surgeon; Yekaterina Amosova, a cardiologist, corresponding member of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine and member of the European Society of Cardiology; Oleg Chaban, a psychiatrist, doctor of medical sciences and professor; Sergey Dubrov, president of the Association of Anesthesiologists of Ukraine, etc.
You can watch videos of broadcasts with experienced practitioners on the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation’s Facebook page, as well as on YouTube.
“Ask the Doctor” is part of the project “Fighting COVID-19 in Ukraine”. In total, UAH 500 million has been allocated by Rinat Akhmetov to combat the coronavirus in Ukraine. As a result, the Foundation has helped 1.5 million people to survive. It is the largest contribution one donor has made to the public healthcare of Ukraine since independence. More than 500 medical institutions across the country have received more than 1,000 pieces of equipment, including 216 lung ventilators and 159 oxygen concentrators. More than 200 thousand items of personal protective equipment have been provided to public hospitals. Furthermore, doctors have received 337 thousand rapid response tests, 1,044 items of medical and laboratory equipment.
Over 15 years since its foundation, the Fund has helped 8 million people to survive. Within the frame of the program “Rinat Akhmetov-Saving Lives”, the Fund has helped 3.7 million people to survive.