Smarter Spending, Better Care: Ukraine’s eCatalog Revolution

Over the past decade, Ukraine has made impressive strides in strengthening transparency and efficiency in public spending—particularly in the health sector. A cornerstone of this reform has been minimizing corruption risks in procurement and ensuring faster, more equitable access to essential medicines. One of the most powerful tools in this transformation is the Prozorro Market, or eCatalog, a digital procurement platform that has revolutionized how hospitals buy medicines and medical products.

As lead implementer of the USAID-funded Safe, Affordable, and Effective Medicines (SAFEMed) Activity, Management Sciences for Health (MSH) has supported Ukraine’s efforts to develop, expand, and institutionalize the eCatalog—making procurement faster, simpler, and more transparent for healthcare facilities nationwide.

The Prozorro Market was originally designed to simplify routine government purchases. In 2019, the Medical Procurement of Ukraine (MPU) took on the administration of eCatalog for health-related items as a pilot project with technical and strategic support from SAFEMed. The Activity helped lay the groundwork—supporting MPU in everything from catalog development to user training, digital enhancements, and stakeholder outreach.

With SAFEMed’s assistance, MPU integrated a digital eCatalog administration tool into MedData, Ukraine’s centralized platform for managing health procurement and supply chain information. This integration automated category and product management, accelerating the addition of new items from 100 to 3,000 items per week.

Driving Policy Change

Policy momentum followed technical progress. With SAFEMed support, MPU successfully advocated for key regulatory changes:

• In March 2023, Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers issued Resolution No. 686, recommending mandatory use of the eCatalog for public procurement.
• In January 2024, Resolution No. 34 formalized a list of mandatory goods to be purchased through the eCatalog.

SAFEMed supported MPU throughout this process by providing legal and policy advisory services to strengthen the regulatory framework and institutionalize the platform’s use.

Faster, Simpler Procurement

The platform’s impact has been significant:

• Sales on eCatalog surged to over 16 billion UAH (~388 million USD) in 2024, up from 2.8 billion UAH (~68 million USD) the previous year.
• Over 2,700 healthcare facilities used the platform to sign approximately 50,000 contracts.
• Average savings of 15% per purchase resulted in more than 3 billion UAH (~73 million USD) saved between 2021 and 2024—funds that are now being redirected into patient care.  

“The eCatalog is a tangible step toward faster and more transparent procurement at the regional level,” said Oksana Koval, Head of eCatalog Administration Unit at MPU. “It’s not just about saving money, it’s about getting medicines to patients when they need them. We are witnessing how this tool enables hospitals to operate more efficiently and patients to receive timely care.”

The eCatalog reduces procurement time drastically. While traditional open tenders averaged 16 days, eCatalog purchases are typically completed in just 8 days—and sometimes as fast as two days.

In late 2024, SAFEMed and MPU led regional training sessions across 13 regions to help health facility staff strengthen their procurement skills. These sessions also created space for peer learning and shared experiences in leveraging the eCatalog to improve patient access.

Local Impact: Khmelnytskyi and Vinnytsia

At the Khmelnytskyi Regional Cardiovascular Center, procurement specialist Svitlana Khlyniuk noted that the eCatalog has enabled her team to respond quickly to market changes. “Before, open tenders took at least two weeks. Now we can move fast and get the medicines we need,” she said. The center’s chief nurse, Olena Shchypanovska, shared how the savings—ranging from 10% to 20%— are being reinvested in patient care. “We are using those funds to buy additional pain medications and equipment for treatment rooms,” she said. “It’s not just about numbers – it’s about comfort and better care for people.”

In Vinnytsia, regional health leaders are using pooled funds to make high-value purchases, such as CT scanners, while redirecting savings to expand access to advanced therapies like targeted chemotherapy. At the Podil Regional Oncology Center, more than 300 of their 700 planned procurements in 2024 were through the eCatalog.

“We’ve saved up to 200% in some cases, and around 20% on average,” said Volodymyr Kovalchuk, Head of Public Procurement at the center. “These savings allowed us to invest in advanced equipment, open a pain management center, renovate old facilities, and begin building a new CT unit.”

For patients like Olena Zashchepina, the benefits of smarter procurement are life-changing. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2022, Olena received surgery, chemotherapy, diagnostic tests, and psychological support—all free of charge—thanks to the improved procurement capabilities of her hospital and state-funded care programs. “I didn’t have to pay for anything—the chemo, the scans, the support. That let me focus on healing instead of worrying about money,” Olena shared.