The government instructed the heads of regional state administrations to provide 80% of hospital beds with oxygen in the near future. This was discussed at a traditional conference call chaired by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that the supply of oxygen in hospitals in the Kherson region is at the level of 85%, in the Kirovohrad, Zakarpattia, Khmelnytskyi, Poltava, Zhytomyr and Vinnytsia regions - 50%. He noted that 571 million hryvnias have already been allocated for the purchase of oxygen for hospitals.
"We have money, and all procurement procedures have been simplified," he said.
More than 16,000 beds are now equipped with oxygen, it is 6,800 more than in September.
The President noted that the provision of beds with oxygen by 80% should be done as soon as possible. The Head of State asked to monitor this process and inquired about the preparations for the possible deployment of beds in non-medical institutions in Kyiv, Odesa and the Donetsk region.
Minister of Health Maksym Stepanov said that the needs are being verified, the Ministry of Health is gathering proposals from the regions, in particular on the materials and equipment needed, the number of doctors, the required funds for the salaries and for the functioning of such facilities. The Minister also reported that routes for transfer of patients with urgent cases to the institutes of the National Academy of Medical Sciences and Ukrzaliznytsia hospitals in Kharkiv, which are additionally funded to assist in the treatment of patients with COVID-19, are being worked out. The Minister of Health has not been able to provide information on insurance for doctors in the regions yet. He also said that additional 14 hospitals have started treating patients with coronavirus.
In addition, Volodymyr Zelenskyy raised the issue of the reliability of the statistics of those who got infected and those who recovered. Maksym Stepanov said that he does not receive all the figures as regards those who overcame the disease, as many people endure it in self-isolation, and the Ministry of Health made changes in the spring, according to which recovery is determined by clinical symptoms, a negative test for COVID-19 is not required.