A record number of transplants was carried out in Ukraine in 2021. This was announced by the head of the Ministry of Health Viktor Lyashko. And this is an absolute record!
For the first time, a heart transplant was given to children, a lung transplant was performed, and a simultaneous transplant was performed (the patient had a heart and kidney transplant at the same time). In addition, 226 kidneys, 49 livers, and 32 hearts were transplanted.
In addition, in 2021, 19 bone marrow transplants were performed from a non-family donor, 17 of them to children.
Currently, there are 26 transplant centers in Ukraine, which fully cover the costs of operations at the expense of the State budget. For a kidney transplant in Ukraine, the hospital receives UAH 801,000 from the state, UAH 1.428 million from the liver, over UAH 2 million from the heart, and over UAH 2.4 million for a bone marrow transplant from a non-family donor.
For comparison, the average cost of the same treatment abroad is UAH 3.5 million for liver transplantation, over UAH 3 million for bone marrow transplantation from an unrelated donor.
The development of transplantation in Ukraine has already allowed saving money from the treatment program abroad to invest in developing innovative treatments in the country. In 2021, UAH 545.7 million less was spent on the therapy abroad programme than in 2020. Ukrainian hospitals have already received these funds.
We sent half as many patients for treatment abroad this year as most Ukrainians received medical care at home.
Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine
The plans for 2022
The pilot project on transplantation was extended until December 2023, which further increased the number of operations in Ukraine.
The budget for next year includes UAH 939.5 million for transplantation, and there will be more operations.
Also, in 2022 we plan to resolve the issue of tissue transplantation. This will allow hospitals to create hospital tissue banks. And this will rise to a new level the provision of specialized orthopedic and surgical care with the restoration of patients after the domestic, military, sports traumatic injuries, congenital disabilities, and many other diseases that require reconstructive and plastic interventions.
