Rada allows purchase of medicines under MACs using local budget funds

The Verkhovna Rada has allowed the procurement of medicines under the mechanism of managed access contracts (MACs) at the expense of local budgets and hospitals.

Some 248 deputies voted for the relevant bill No. 13134 in the second reading and in general on Wednesday without so-called "soybean amendments."

As the head of the parliamentary committee on national health, medical care and medical insurance, Mykhailo Radutsky, reminded on Facebook, the committee has prepared two bills that allow the State Enterprise Medical Procurement of Ukraine to carry out procurement under MACs at the expense of local budgets: bill No. 13134 introduces relevant amendments to the Tax Code, as well as No. 13135, which provides for tax benefits for such procurement.

As reported, the Verkhovna Rada, voting for bill No. 13134 on Wednesday, did not adopt the so-called "soybean amendments," which, according to MP Oleksiy Honcharenko (European Solidarity faction), "would destroy small farmers in favor of large monopolists."

These amendments provided for changes to the Tax Code of Ukraine, introduced at the end of 2017. They concerned the procedure for refunding value added tax (VAT) when exporting soybeans and rapeseed. The authors of the "soybean amendments" believe that Ukrainian soybean and rapeseed processing plants are underutilized by 35%, if they are used, the state will receive an additional UAH 7.3 billion of revenue to the state budget to finance the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and an additional $238 million will allow the construction of dozens of factories and the creation of thousands of new jobs.

A number of associations criticized the idea of ​​the draft law On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine regarding expanding patients' access to medicines subject to procurement by a person authorized to make procurements in the healthcare sector through the conclusion of managed access agreements, which provided for the establishment of a duty on the export of soybeans and rapeseed from Ukraine.