Have you been forced to leave your permanent place of residence and move to another region?
Did your family doctor or pediatrician stay at your previous place of residence? Did you have a child born at your new place of residence? This is exactly the situation that people with the status of a forcibly displaced person find themselves in. Regardless of their place of residence or registration, they can receive full medical care.
Since medical care is not tied to the place of registration or residence, an internally displaced person can freely choose a family doctor, therapist, and pediatrician to make a declaration at any medical facility. We will explain how to do this below.
1. Make an appointment with your doctor
First, you need to choose the nearest or most conveniently located primary health care facility. This can be a municipal facility, a private or sole proprietorship doctor with a contract with the National Health Insurance Fund. You can find them using the analytical panel (dashboard) Electronic map of primary health care locations. Use filters to quickly get the information you need about the establishment:
- locality;
- form of ownership (municipal or private, sole proprietorship);
- specialization of doctors (family doctor, general practitioner, pediatrician);
- Doctor's full name, if you know a specific doctor and want to check whether you can conclude a declaration with him.
After selecting filters, information about the institution will appear on the dashboard:
- address, opening hours and contacts of the medical facility
- data about each primary care physician: last name, patronymic, and the number of declarations the physician already has.
The declaration limit for a family doctor is 1800, a general practitioner is 2000, and a pediatrician is 900. If a doctor has reached the limit, he or she can decide at his or her discretion whether to file a declaration above the limit. If the doctor has not reached the limit, he or she cannot refuse to file a declaration.
The second way to find a primary care doctor is to call the National Health Service Contact Center at 16-77. The operator will help you find the nearest primary care facility and a list of doctors who sign declarations. The operator will provide the address, contact information for the facility, and its working hours. Call the facility and make an appointment with the doctor to sign the declaration.
Filing a declaration, both in a municipal institution and in a private one, is free of charge. Extorting money for filing a declaration or paying for the first visit is unlawful. Similarly, there are no restrictions on the number of visits to a doctor or receiving referrals.
2. What is required to make a declaration?
To make a declaration, you need to make an appointment with your chosen doctor. You can do this through the medical facility's reception desk.
The patient needs to bring:
- passport
- identification code
- child's birth certificate – if the declaration will be made with a pediatrician or a family doctor will be serving the child
- a phone number to which SMS messages from the electronic healthcare system will be sent. In particular, an SMS with a confirmation code about the choice of a doctor.
To complete the declaration, a medical facility employee will enter your data into the electronic system. An SMS with a confirmation code will be sent to your mobile phone.
After that, the doctor will print out a declaration with your data. Carefully check that all the data is correct. If necessary, the employee will make changes in the system and print the declaration again. Sign two copies of the printed declaration. You take one with you, the other remains at the institution.
If you already have a declaration with another doctor, you don't need to do anything with it. The conclusion of a new declaration is automatically recorded in the electronic healthcare system and at the same time cancels the previous one.
3. Take advantage of the declaration with your doctor
Having a declaration with a primary care physician, a patient with the status of an internally displaced person receives free services for the diagnosis and prevention of the most common diseases, consultations on a healthy lifestyle, e-referrals to specialist doctors, e-prescriptions for medicines, vaccinations according to the preventive vaccination calendar, can issue certificates, disability certificates, etc.
The Medical Guarantees Program provides all Ukrainians with the same free list and access to medical services, regardless of their status as an internally displaced person. More information about the free medical services that can be obtained under the Medical Guarantees Program can be found in the electronic manual "Guide to the Medical Guarantees Program for Patients 2024". You can download the manual via link.