How to make an appointment with a doctor: a step-by-step guide
Kyiv • UNN
Ukrainians need an electronic referral from their family doctor to visit narrow-profile specialists. Starting May 20, 2026, the referral will be signed with the doctor's personal digital signature during the consultation.
Before visiting most specialized doctors, Ukrainians need to obtain an electronic referral from their family doctor. You can make an appointment in several ways - online through medical services, by phone, or directly at the medical facility's reception desk. UNN explains how to make an appointment with a family doctor and what changes have occurred in Ukraine regarding obtaining an electronic referral for a doctor's appointment.
Making an appointment with a doctor: what are the ways
Starting from 2017, as a result of the healthcare reform in Ukraine, the first person you need to visit to get a referral to specialists (cardiologist, surgeon, ophthalmologist, etc.) is the family doctor/pediatrician with whom you have signed a declaration. If you have not signed a declaration, you need to choose a family doctor/pediatrician you like best and who has available slots.
The family doctor or pediatrician issues a referral to a specialized doctor. However, there are exceptions: you can see certain specialists without a referral. These include, in particular, a gynecologist, psychiatrist, dentist, narcologist, and phthisiologist.
Several methods are available for making an appointment:
- online booking - most medical facilities offer online booking through websites or special applications, such as Health24, Helsi.
- booking through the reception desk or by phone - you can call the facility's reception desk or come in person to make an appointment.
Online appointment with a doctor
To make an appointment online, you need to:
- go to the service website https://helsi.me;
- select your city where you have a declaration with a family doctor;
- enter the doctor's specialty in the search bar;
- Choose a doctor, a convenient date and time for the appointment;
- go through the registration procedure: enter your phone number and wait for an SMS message with a password to log into the system. The password must be saved for future visits to the site; fill in the registration form fields.
To make an appointment for a child, you also need to add information about them.
You can cancel an appointment at any time in your personal account. The personal account page in the helsi system stores the user's personal data and information about visits. On the "Profile" page, you can add details to your personal data to save time when signing a declaration with a family doctor.
After the first visit to the clinic, the information will be verified at the reception desk, after which an electronic medical record with data on diagnoses and doctor's prescriptions will appear in the "Visits" section.
However, please note that you can only make an appointment with a doctor for the next two weeks. If you need to book for a later date, only the doctor has access.
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Making an appointment with doctors by phone
If you do not have the technical ability to make an appointment with a doctor online, you can always do so by calling the reception desk of the relevant outpatient clinic, and they will book you with your doctor with whom you have a declaration. Provide the operator with your details and the desired doctor's specialty. If you need a specialist, obtain an electronic referral from your family doctor in advance.
To make an offline appointment with a doctor, you can personally visit the reception desk of the chosen medical facility, where they will book you with your family doctor on the date you choose.
Changes in obtaining an electronic referral
From May 20, 2026, the technical rules for working in the Electronic Healthcare System in Ukraine will be updated.
From now on, each electronic referral, prescription, or medical record will be signed exclusively with the personal qualified electronic signature (QES) of the medical professional who directly provided the medical care.
The referral is now issued by the doctor directly during the consultation - in-person or officially registered telemedicine consultation. A nurse will no longer be able to issue an electronic referral while the doctor is seeing another patient.
An electronic referral is created by the doctor directly during interaction with the patient and after entering a medical record into the Healthcare Electronic System (HES).
To issue an electronic referral, the consultation must be officially registered in the HES with the entry of a medical record.
As before, without an electronic referral, you can contact an obstetrician-gynecologist; psychiatrist; dentist; narcologist; phthisiatrist.
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