Russia’s war against Ukraine not only caught the military flat-footed, but medical workers as well.
With Ukraine’s military and health care system degraded under ousted President Viktor Yanukovych’s four-year rule, non-governmental organizations have taken it on themselves to start training, equipping and providing field care to wounded soldiers.
Under Yanukovych, both military and medical training were cut back, except for at Kharkiv, Ternopil and Zaporizhya state medical universities, according to the Health Ministry. A paramedic-training base in Vinnytsia was also closed. The Desna training base was destroyed, said Olga Rudneva, the project manager of the Medsanbat training program.
With much of Ukrainian medical training stuck in the Soviet past, war deaths that could have been prevented became the norm, said Yana Zinkevych, the founder of Hospitallers medical battalion.
In the past year, 6,500 people have been killed and 16,000 wounded, while five million people are in need of humanitarian aid, according to the latest statistics of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, issued on June 29.
Medsanbat
Created in August last year, Medsanbat trains paramedics for the war zone.
“The idea was to create an efficient project for the assistance of the Ukrainian army,” said Rudneva.
Medsanbat engaged foreign specialists who have participated in NATO military activities and introduced the concept of tactical combat casualty care.
It was evident that most people in the field did not have the necessary training, said Rudneva. Medsanbat created a training system to teach soldiers how to give themselves emergency medical aid. It also includes training for paramedics and teaches them how to conduct evacuations to hospitals.
“There were no first aid kits, training courses, paramedics or a system of evacuation… While we’re a far cry from where we started, the price has been people’s lives,” Rudneva said.
Medsanbat as of July has distributed more than 350 medical bags, conducted more than 30 training courses involving 4,000 people, and has provided tons of medical supplies.
It currently trains experts of the Ukrainian Military Medical Academy and is developing trauma care standards, while seeking to transfer the project to the Defense Ministry.
Patrick Chellew, one of the supervisors and medical directors of the project, said Medsanbat wanted “to extricate itself from this process … It cannot be civilian driven, it has to be military driven.”
There are many practical reasons for the military to take over. Medsanbat does not have access to military secrets. Also, the standards drafted by Medsanbat have to be approved by the government, “because in certain cases a person can go to jail for giving improper medical care,” according to Rudneva.
Corruption and theft are also problems. Medsanbat discovered that only 10 percent of servicemen had first aid kits, although volunteers purchased enough for everyone, Rudneva said.
Bili Berety
Bili Berety (the White Berets), another training organization, was created in the spring of 2014 after the EuroMaidan Revolution. The original idea was to create a rapid response task force to strengthen the Interior Ministry, army and medical ambulances, said Andriy Salahornyk, the group’s founder.
“In a short time, our priorities shifted to tactical medicine, the algorithm of actions for a battlefield situation. That is how we started training people – at their bases and on the battlefield,” said Salahornyk.
So far, the organization has trained 22,000 conscripts for medical and military service. It has eight units in Kyiv, Lviv, Ternopil, Poltava, Rivne, Uzhgorod, Vinnytsia and Kharkiv.
“While previously the initiative stemmed from us, now the military is inviting us to train them,” said Salahornyk.
The main difference between the White Berets and Medsanbat lies in technical assistance. Medsanbat equips paramedics with the medical bags and purchases all the necessary consumables for training.
The White Berets teach medics how to evacuate wounded from the battlefield with the help of a body sling on Feb. 24.
Hospitallers
This grouup is the Right Sector’s medical battalion, consisting of 150 volunteers. It was founded in July 2014 by Yana Zinkevych to serve the needs of the volunteer battalion. It has since developed to provide coverage to all volunteer battalions fighting in the war zone.
“When the war started, I noticed Ukraine’s military medical infrastructure was lame in one leg, or was completely lacking,” said Zinkevych.
In contrast to Medsanbat and White Berets, Hospitallers provides medical care in the war zone.
“Many members of White Berets come to our units to test their knowledge,” Zinkevych said.
Zinkevych believes the top priority should be combat medical care.
“Ninety percent of people die in the first minute because they do not know the basics,” Zinkevych said.
The Kyiv Post’s legal affairs reporter Mariana Antonovych can be reached at [email protected].
