Russia: new fund for purchase of unregistered medicines
New fund to deal with the purchase of unregistered medicines
06.01.2021
Clergyman Alexander Tkachenko, head of the state fund for seriously ill children, spoke about the charitable foundation Circle of Kindness.
“The Ministry of Health provides children with medicines that have already been registered in Russia. The new charitable foundation is being created to solve the problem of purchasing expensive drugs that are unregistered in the Russian Federation, which makes it impossible for the state to get hold of them,” said Alexander Tkachenko, in an interview with Novosti.
The first medicines will be given to children in January, he said. The recipients will be those who have already been placed on regional lists. In the future, the initiative will accept new applications through a special form on the website. Parents of the children, regional ministries of health and medical institutions will all have access to these forms.
The structure of the foundation will include a medical department and the head of the foundation will primarily be in charge of processing applications. The documents will then be checked by independent experts, as well as the foundation’s expert council.
Aleksander Tkachenko invited representatives from various other charitable foundations to join the expert council, and said that he would like to establish an exchange of information with them to avoid the double funding of children.
On January 5, Vladimir Putin finally announced the creation of the Circle of Kindness foundation. The foundation will help children with severe, life-threatening, and chronic illnesses, including rare and orphan diseases.
Medicines, medical devices and rehabilitation equipment will be bought for children. The foundation will be financed by the increase in personal income tax. This was introduced on 1 January 2021 for those with an income of more than 5 million roubles a year.
Father Alexander Tkachenko is a priest and the founder of the first children’s hospice in Russia, as well as the head of the Commission for Charity, Civil Education and Social Responsibility of the Russian Federation.
