Mykolaiv City Hall explains why they are in a hurry to merge hospitals — otherwise, it will be up to Kim to decide

Mykolaiv City Hall explained why they are in a hurry to merge hospitals. Photo: NikVesti

The Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration will be able to independently submit its vision of a medical network to the Cabinet of Ministers if the city council does not approve a plan to reorganise medical institutions and create cluster hospitals in the city by the end of the year.

This was announced during a briefing on 23 May by Deputy Mayor Anatoliy Petrov, commenting on draft decisions on the creation of cluster hospitals and the reorganisation of Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs), NikVesti reports.

According to Anatolii Petrov, this means that the regional administration will have the authority to determine which medical institutions will be reorganised.

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«If the city council does not submit the proposal to the deputy corps, and we do not make a decision by 1 January 2026, the Mykolaiv military administration will submit a capable network to the Ministry of Health on its own. That is, it will be able to determine which institutions and in what format they will operate. But in any case, we are obliged to submit this network to the Cabinet of Ministers for approval. It is the Cabinet of Ministers that makes the final decision based on a full analysis. Now the National Health Service checks us almost every three weeks - it controls everything: the provision of medical services, sanitary conditions, and other indicators. It also draws its own conclusions and will influence the process of forming a capable network. So not everything depends on us,» said Anatolii Petrov.

Deputy Mayor Anatolii Petrov said that the city authorities are offering three scenarios to the deputies:

• The first option is to support the proposed reorganisation: to create three cluster hospitals and 2-3 primary healthcare centres.
• The second option is to leave everything as it is, but then the city will have to finance healthcare facilities from the local budget. According to Anatolii Petrov, this means high costs.
• The third option is to merge city hospitals with those in the region.

«I recently spoke with one of the chief doctors of the Emergency Medical Care Hospital (EMCH), and we discussed this topic, and he said that we may not survive without merging. This is his phrase. Therefore, we suggest that the deputies consider these draft decisions,» added Anatolii Petrov.

At the same time, he said, even if the regional administration independently submits its model of a capable network, for example, providing for the accession of the ambulance service to the regional hospital, such a transfer is impossible without a decision of the city council.

«Implementation of such a scenario requires the consent of the city council — it is impossible to transfer healthcare facilities without a decision of the deputies. It is difficult to predict how the situation will develop: whether the deputies will give their consent or not. However, we continue to cooperate with the regional military administration and solve many issues together. We live in the same city, in the same region, and we should not divide our powers — on the contrary, it is important to negotiate and look for common solutions,» said Anatolii Petrov.

"In order to have time to sign contracts with the National Health Service for 2026, a decision needs to be made in May. After that, the reorganisation process will begin: audits, inventories, handover certificates, and approval at sessions. This stage will last at least three months. Preparation of documents for the NHSU is scheduled to begin in late October. Therefore, the decision on the network format should be made no later than May-June.

«We have submitted this issue to the May session of the city council, because the reorganisation process is long and requires at least three months. If we are talking about merging institutions, we need to conduct a full audit — by the tax authorities, the Pension Fund, an inventory of property in each medical institution, and prepare and approve transfer acts. This is a complicated procedure, because the records are kept down to the last syringe that is transferred from one balance sheet to another. If the decision is made in May, then June, July and August are spent on preparations, and the reorganisation can be completed in September. From the end of October, we have to prepare a package of documents for the National Health Service for contracting for the next year — by 31 October. This covers all 16 departments of the cluster hospital, so the scope of work is very large,» added Anatolii Petrov.

Earlier, Iryna Shamrai, the head of the city's health department, said that Mykolaiv Regional State Administration proposed that the city transfer Maternity Hospital №3 and City Children's Hospital №2 to the regional ownership to join them to the regional medical institutions. But she opposed this decision. At the same time, she reminded what happened to the regional Children's Home after it was merged with the regional children's hospital. Today it is a rehabilitation and palliative care centre for children. According to the head of the city health department, the city children's hospital №2 will only lose if it is merged with the regional children's hospital.

Commenting on this statement, the deputy head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration, Yurii Hranaturov, said that it was not a political or administrative confrontation, but a long-term process of creating a single hospital district based on professional calculations and recommendations from the Ministry of Health and international experts.

As you know, Mykolaiv's healthcare department has come up with an initiative to reduce the number of hospitals in the city from six to three by merging them. In addition to merging hospitals, the reform will also include Maternity Hospital №3, which, unlike other maternity hospitals in the city that were merged with hospitals last year and became departments, remained an independent legal entity.

• The ambulance hospital and hospital No. 4 are to be merged with hospital №1;

• Maternity Hospital №3 and Children's Hospital №2 — to Hospital №3 (Dubky);

• Hospital №5 (Korabelnyi district) will not be affected by the reform.

During the commission meeting, Iryna Shamrai, Head of the Mykolaiv Health Department, explained that the need to reorganise and merge large hospitals in Mykolaiv this year was due to the requirements of the National Health Service of Ukraine to provide full funding for medical services provided.

Olena Kiseliova, head of the deputy commission on legality of the Mykolaiv City Council, a member of the European Solidarity party, expressed strong criticism of the plans to reorganise the city's medical network.