Only 6,000 people aged 40 and over have undergone a free health check-up in Mykolaiv: many were found to have undiagnosed conditions

In Mykolaiv, during a free health check-up, many people were found to have conditions they were unaware of. Photo: NikVesti archive

Only around 6,000 residents of Mykolaiv aged 40 and over took advantage of the state programme offering free medical check-ups. At the same time, the city’s health department reports that during the examinations, many people were found to have conditions they were completely unaware of.

This was reported on 5 August during a staff meeting by Iryna Shamrai, head of the Mykolaiv City Council’s health department, according to NikVesti.

According to her, the results of the initial examinations confirm that preventive screening helps to identify health problems even before symptoms appear.

«So far, around 6,000 people have undergone screening. And I want to say that a great many people have conditions they are not even aware of. This is only the first stage — screening,» said Iryna Shamray.

To encourage more people to take part in the programme, the city health department is prepared to carry out examinations directly within workplaces.

«We are ready to send mobile teams to your workplaces: to come and show you how to receive funds onto your card, and then, two or three days later, carry out the screening with a mobile team. Please take care of your health,» she urged.

The mayor, Oleksandr Sienkevych, also said that he had personally checked how the government programme works.

«I decided to go through the process myself to see how it works. I registered my card via «Diia» app, received 2,000 hryvnias and went for a check-up. The whole process took about 30 minutes, and the results were sent to my email. You might think that everything is fine with you. But you can’t spend these 2,000 hryvnias on anything else. If you don’t want to do it for yourself, do it for our healthcare workers. Primary care centres will be able to use these funds to improve their services,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

As a reminder, the programme provides for preventive check-ups for people aged 40 and over and aims to detect diseases at an early stage. On 1 January 2026, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, in collaboration with its partners, launched the National «Health Screening 40+» Programme.