ANALYSIS OF WEB ACCESSIBILITY ISSUES IN THE CONTEXT OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF HEALTHCARE

Abstract

The article examines the problem of web accessibility of medical web resources in the context of the digitalization of the healthcare system of Ukraine. The relevance of the study is driven by the need to ensure equal access to digital medical services for all categories of the population, including persons with disabilities and users with temporary impairments. With the growing role of electronic services such as e-prescriptions, electronic medical records, and telemedicine consultations, ensuring the accessibility of web interfaces becomes a critical factor in the quality and efficiency of healthcare delivery. The object of the study is the website of the Ukrainian electronic healthcare system (eHealth), which provides interaction between patients, healthcare professionals, and government institutions. The aim of the research is to assess the level of web accessibility of this resource in accordance with international WCAG 2.1 standards. To achieve this goal, the automated accessibility testing tool axe DevTools was used, which enables the identification of accessibility violations based on formalized criteria. The results of the study revealed 39 accessibility issues of varying impact levels identified on the homepage alone, with serious and moderate issues predominating. The most common problems include insufficient color contrast, missing or improperly implemented alternative text for images, and violations of the semantic structure of web pages. Deficiencies in the accessibility of interactive elements and restrictions on content scaling were also identified, which negatively affect users with visual impairments. The findings indicate a gap between regulatory requirements for web accessibility and their practical implementation in public digital services. Recommendations for improving accessibility are proposed, including enhancing interface contrast, optimizing semantic markup, ensuring proper use of ARIA attributes, and adhering to universal design principles. The implementation of these measures will contribute to increasing the inclusiveness of medical web resources and improving the quality of digital healthcare services.