The full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Kremlin’s troops has been going on for three years now. Russian aggression has led to catastrophic destruction of social, critical, energy and industrial infrastructure. Many schools, hospitals, sport and cultural facilities, as well as residential buildings were destroyed. A number of cities and villages were destroyed in the Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Zaporozhzhia, Kyiv, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson and Chernihiv regions.
Almost every day, Russia deliberately shells hospitals, maternity hospitals, outpatient clinics, and clinics in order to trigger a humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine. In particular, during the full-scale war, more than 1,800 medical facilities were damaged, and more than 200 were destroyed. Despite this, the Ukrainian population should not be left without medical care, because the number of people in need is only increasing every day. According to the UN Human Rights Office, since February 24, 2022, about 20 thousand civilians have been injured in Ukraine (about 11 thousand have died). Russia continues to commit genocide against the Ukrainian people, mass killing and injuring civilians and children in Ukraine. The criminal actions of the Russian army can be considered as the deliberate destruction of Ukrainian citizens.
The Ukrainian people are called unconquerable for their strong character, unity and invincible Ukrainian spirit. Ukrainian soldiers are called “cyborgs” for their superhuman endurance, stamina and courage. All these features of the Ukrainian people and Ukrainian defenders, who have been resisting the Russian invader for more than one year in a row, impress and surprise the whole world. But, despite truly incredible endurance, Ukrainians get injured, wounded, shell shocked, and worry about the loss of relatives, friends and brothers. Therefore, they need both qualified medical and psychological assistance.
Ukraine constantly receives military, financial and humanitarian support from international partners. It is difficult to say which one is more important. All types of help are essential and necessary!
On March 14, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Ukraine on an unexpected and extraordinary visit. With his arrival, he hopes to “send a strong signal of reassurance to the Ukrainians, who are obviously in a very difficult moment.” That is, he realizes that military and psychological support for the Ukrainian nation is also important.
Let us remind that the United States provides Ukraine with not only military, but also financial and humanitarian assistance. The total aid budget for Ukraine is divided into certain areas, so part of it is directed to support the Ukrainian economy, medicine, payments to teachers, displaced persons, and pensioners. Thus, in February of this year, it became known that the US government has allocated more than 2.6 billion US dollars in humanitarian aid to people affected by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The ongoing full-scale war is changing the orientation of the work of the Ukrainian healthcare system. In addition to the existing health problems of Ukrainians in peacetime, there are wartime challenges too. Moreover, many diseases are getting worse. In such difficult conditions, it is very important to provide Ukrainian patients with access to high-quality modern treatment and diagnostics. The International Medical Partnership (IMP) provides a lot of support here.
Already, 18 countries have joined the joint statement on international medical partnership to strengthen health workforce, which was announced in Kyiv during the Third Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen (6 September 2023). To date, about 30 agreements on international medical partnerships have been concluded between Ukrainian clinics and foreign medical institutions. Multidisciplinary, including university, children’s, specialized oncological and psychiatric clinics and medical universities in Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Israel, Spain, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, the Netherlands, Macedonia, Poland, Turkey, France are among the medical institutions within the MMP project. Currently, opportunities and partnerships are being established with a number of other countries, including Norway, Finland, Italy, Slovakia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
In war and many wounded and injured people, the main tasks of the medical service of Ukraine are to strengthen the sustainability of the medical infrastructure, ensuring comprehensive access to medical care, incl. to emergency medical care, implementation of treatment and rehabilitation programs (including mental health), humanitarian medical assistance (including in a remote areas), improving rapid response to dangers, incl. providing Ukrainian healthcare institutions with armored ambulances for the evacuation of the wounded.
The international community is aware of the problems in Ukraine and is helping the Ukrainian medical sector to overcome them. In the future, the priceless experience of Ukrainian specialists will be useful for patients in other parts of the world.
An indicative example of international interaction in the field of medical care can be the repeated visit and cooperation of the famous Swedish prosthetist and orthopedic surgeon Rikard Brånemark with Ukrainian specialists. He performs operations on patients who lost limbs in war using osseointegrative prosthetics. This is a new technique in which a prosthetic limb is implanted into the bone for those patients who cannot be fitted with conventional prostheses. Recently, with the German government’s support, an ultra-modern, the largest prosthetics and orthotics center in Ukraine began operating in Lviv. About 1,200 prosthetics will be produced there annually for those who have lost limbs due to enemy attacks or serious illnesses. These include civilians, military personnel, women, and children. Now the demand for prostheses is constantly growing. These are the realities of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war.
Many people in Ukraine are injured, lose limbs, and subsequently their normal life. Ukraine’s allies can help them return to their normal life, adapt to new realities and do everything possible to maintain good quality of their live, both physically and psychologically, by sharing their professional experience and tirelessly providing humanitarian, financial and, of course, military assistance. When one person gets stronger, we all get stronger! After all, where restores man, restores the country and the world.