Medics and volunteers try to prop up Ukraine's health system

Aprogen Biologics

15/03/2022 06:00

By Jennifer Rigby
    LONDON, March 15 (Reuters) - When Russian bombs started
falling on Kyiv, oncologist Nataliia Verovkina fled with her
10-year-old son. But once he was safe in Munich with his
grandparents, she turned around and went back.
    "Someone had to help these people," Verovkina, 43, who works
at Ukraine's National Cancer Institute, said by phone from the
capital. "It was harder for me to do nothing."
    Verovkina joins a growing army of medical professionals and
volunteers, from Ukraine and abroad, who have been working under
desperate circumstances to keep the country's healthcare system
going since the conflict started on Feb. 24.
    The situation is particularly dire in besieged cities such
as Mariupol and Kharkiv, where days of intense fighting and a
lack of food and medicines threaten millions of civilians,
humanitarian agencies said.
    The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday its teams
were working round the clock to get supplies into Ukraine. Since
March 5, it has delivered 90 tonnes of medical aid, including
emergency surgery kits, ventilators and essential medicines. 
    But the WHO has been unable to reach a number of cities
where more and more people have no access to medicines or care
and it is lining up shipments for when they can be delivered,
spokesperson Tarik Jarasevic said from the western city of Lviv.
    In Kyiv, the cancer institute where Verovkina works is still
functional, though its surgical departments are only providing
emergency medical care and staff are concerned about the coming
days as fighting escalates in the suburbs of the capital.
    Valentina Ocheretenko, chair of the Ukrainian Diabetes
Foundation, said the situation was dangerous for Ukraine's 2.3
million diabetes patients, 120,000 of whom have type 1 diabetes
and require regular doses of insulin and monitoring to survive.
    Every night, she works into the small hours with
international partners to try to match up the dwindling supplies
of insulin and glucose meters to monitor blood sugar levels with
the overwhelming demand.
    
    'IT'S TOO MUCH'
    "I fear for people with diabetes, it's too much,"
Ocheretenko said by phone from Kyiv, adding that she worries the
county's health system has already "fallen down".
    Her adult daughter, who has Type 1 diabetes, had to receive
emergency care last week after a dangerous episode of
hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar levels, after struggling to
find regular meals. 
    She is doing better now but the pressures on hospitals are
acute and some diabetes patients are not always getting the care
they need, said Ocheretenko. 
    The WHO has warned that infectious diseases, including
COVID-19, are another risk, especially with millions of people
fleeing the fighting on the move in Ukraine and abroad.  
    Ukraine's Alliance for Public Health is helping patients
with HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and hepatitis. Its ambulances are
now delivering medicines and food, as well as evacuating people
from heavily shelled areas such as the town of Irpin. 
    The charity has also set up a helpline to ensure people can
get the drugs they need. The Alliance's Inna Gavrylova came up
with the idea after fleeing with her family to the relative
safety of the Ivano-Frankivsk region in western Ukraine.
    "I could not sleep at night," she said, as she realised
those in need of constant treatment were especially vulnerable.
    Oncologist Verovkina, too, said helping others was the only
way to process the trauma of war.
    "Many doctors are volunteering to work overtime. Working
helps (us) to cope with the current situation more easily."

 (Reporting by Jennifer Rigby; Additional reporting by Manas
Mishra; Editing by Michele Gershberg and David Clarke)
 ((Jennifer.Rigby@thomsonreuters.com;))