Back on July 24, this newspaper’s front page carried a story headlined “Ukrainian American radiologist tapped as Ukraine’s deputy minister of health.” Our new correspondent in Kyiv, Mark Raczkiewycz, reported that Dr. Ulana Suprun – whom most readers will remember as director of humanitarian initiatives for the Ukrainian World Congress and director of the organization Patriot Defence (which has provided combat lifesaver training to Ukraine’s soldiers and has distributed tens of thousands of NATO-standard individual first aid kits to those on the battlefield) – had taken on this challenging new assignment. Then, on August 1, came the announcement that Dr. Suprun was now Ukraine’s acting minister of health.
The new leader of the Health Ministry continues to care about saving the lives of Ukraine’s troops. In August, there was news that Dr. Suprun had accepted U.S. government donations of the first batch of field litter ambulances to Ukraine’s armed forces. “The army is short of armored vehicles for fast evacuation of injured soldiers to the hospitals where they can be treated by professional doctors,” Dr. Suprun noted, while expressing hope that, working together with their American partners, Ukrainian armed forces will continue to focus on medical training.
Dr. Suprun is promoting vaccinations – her goal being to implement a routine immunization program in Ukraine. At the beginning of August she told the press that only 11.5 percent of infants have been vaccinated against tuberculosis, 39 percent against polio, and less than 2 percent against pertussis, diphtheria and tetanus. The problem was twofold: lack of the vaccines themselves and inadequate levels of vaccination among children. By late August she reported that 2.5 million doses of anti-tuberculosis vaccine, ordered by her ministry through UNICEF had been received, and that 22 types of antiretroviral drugs and eight more types of vaccines required for routine immunization had been ordered through that U.N. body. She addressed the public: “I appeal to parents, workers and heads of medical institutions not to delay vaccination. …Vaccinate your children to protect their lives.”
On August 31, Minister Suprun introduced her newly appointed team of deputy ministers – all highly qualified medical professionals – whose expertise is in the fields of practical medicine, the civic sector and academia. She proclaimed the ministry’s intention to reform Ukraine’s health care system: “The new deputies are experts who have proved with their work and knowledge that they can be responsible for changing the medical system in Ukraine.”
A the end of September after two months at the helm of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Suprun reported that it had succeeded in procuring 80 percent of the needed medicines and medical devices that had been ordered for 2015 but not delivered – mainly due to bureaucratic procedures on the part of Ukraine. The remaining 20 percent, she added, would be delivered within two months.
Dr. Suprun was pleased to report that next year the state budget expenditure on health care would increase by 6 percent compared to 2016. “We have also received additional 2 billion hrv to purchase medicines through public procurement, and also received a financing increase for some programs – treatment abroad and others,” she added. At the same time, Dr. Suprun underlined that the ministry had cancelled a decree that determined the number of health workers per establishment (the number of hospital staff was dependant on the number of beds). “Our hospitals, clinics and other institutions should be maintained the way they see it – not the way Kyiv tells them. Doctors at the local level understand their needs better,” she stated.
Soon thereafter, at a U.S. Agency for International Development/UNICEF press event on October 5 highlighting the importance of vaccines, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, minced no words: “Ukraine has fallen to near the bottom in global immunization coverage after three years of inadequate budgeting and procurements.” She continued: “So, I’m very impressed that Minister Suprun and Prime Minister [Volodymyr] Groysman have ensured the Ukrainian people’s access to vital drugs and vaccines this year – or next year – by doubling next year’s health budget.”
Also in October – which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month – Minister Suprun has been promoting mammograms for women. Emerging from her own mammography exam, she declared it to be on the same level as those in the U.S. The only difference was in the language spoken. With this visit, Dr. Suprun said she was strongly urging women to care for their own health.
Clearly, Minister Suprun is wasting no time in asserting herself as Ukraine’s physician.
Back in July, when she was named to the Ministry of Health, Dr. Suprun told our correspondent that she feels everything she’d done in life had led her to Ukraine – “I feel I’m in the right place at the right time.” That, indeed, appears to be the case. That much was pointed out also by Ambassador Yovanovitch who said she is pleased to work with Minister Suprun, “whose vision of healthcare in Ukraine is so clear and compelling, and one that the United States is very proud to support.”
Kudos and thanks to Dr. Suprun. And good luck in your further endeavors to improve the health of Ukraine.