Lviv's urban polyclinics are set to be transformed into clinical diagnostic centers.

A working group has been established at the Lviv City Council to develop a medical strategy for the advancement of healthcare facilities, taking into account the realities of war. In particular, this document aims to reform city polyclinics into clinical diagnostic centers. This also pertains to the potential merger of the 1st and 6th city polyclinics.

As reported by ZAXID.NET, the head of the city’s health department, Marta Matyushko, stated that the development of the medical strategy in wartime is a collaborative effort involving healthcare professionals, city council members, and community representatives. She assures that this does not involve job cuts or layoffs of medical staff.

“This is not the first time the city has reorganized healthcare institutions. Given the financial situation of the country during the war, most of these decisions are currently necessary. A working group has been created to formulate a medical strategy up to the year 2030. In this working group, we generally discussed the reform of polyclinics and the establishment of clinical diagnostic centers,” said Marta Matyushko.

According to her, the reform concerns not only the 1st polyclinic, whose staff recently began publicly expressing concerns over a possible reorganization. The focus is on transforming all city polyclinics into high-quality clinical diagnostic centers.

“Of course, we understand the financial capabilities and human resources of the polyclinics, as well as the residents' needs for primary care. All these indicators will be analyzed in great detail, and only based on this will we jointly make decisions, consulting with council members and the community. Yes, there is a view on the feasibility of merging the two polyclinics. However, the final decision will be developed collectively, considering the interests of all – primarily patients, healthcare workers, and so on,” the official assured.

Currently, the polyclinics have not yet signed contracts with the National Health Service of Ukraine, so their financial capacity for 2025 is still unknown.

“We see that the First polyclinic has several issues, for example, 31% of its staff are of retirement age, and there are 10 external doctors working part-time. There are also concerns about accessibility for patients, as the building located at 20 Ruska Street is a historical monument, making it very difficult to create all the necessary accessibility features. In the working group, we are not only discussing the merging of polyclinics; we are also developing solutions for opening and establishing new family medicine outpatient clinics in areas with a high population density, so that all primary services can be accessed close to home,” added Marta Matyushko.

After the medical strategy is developed, it will be presented to the community. Following this, the document will need to be approved by the members of the Lviv City Council.

It is worth noting that a few years ago, a large-scale medical reform was conducted in Lviv, merging city hospitals into four territorial city associations, without closing any medical facilities. On the contrary, for instance, based on the First Territorial Medical Association, a large network of rehabilitation centers called Unbroken was developed.