Ivan Venzhynovych, a well-known doctor in Ukraine who treated COVID-19 patients at the Pochaiv district communal hospital, has died at the age of 51. He passed away on Sept. 30.
Venzhynovych worked in the infectious diseases department.
“From the first days of the pandemic he fought with COVID-19 on the front line,” the United Nations Children’s Fund in Ukraine wrote on Facebook.
Bohdan Kucher, the chief doctor at the Pochaiv district communal hospital, told the Kyiv Post that Venzhynovych had been sick for two days as he was diagnosed with pneumonia. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) COVID-19 test showed a negative result.
“He worked at the hospital for over 25 years. He was a good specialist, a professional. Experienced, a good person, a true friend. Since the pandemic began, he has been at work, completely devoted to his job and patients,” Kucher told a Ukrainian news outlet. “He was the hero of our time.”
Venzhynovych’s sister Nataliya added: “He was very dedicated to work, to the last breath. He saved many (people). At 5.30 a.m. or 6 a.m he was already on his feet, got in his car and went to distant villages, because he was asked to come.”
Nataliya said that he had shortness of breath and all the symptoms alluded to coronavirus.
In May, 2020 journalists of the Associated Press visited Pochaiv’s hospital and took Venzhynovych’s photo. The doctor complained that the hospital did not have an infectious disease specialist: one left and another one has been diagnosed with COVID-19.
“All people have run away, and those who are left are working at their limit…” Venzhynovych said back then, according to the Associated Press.
Afterwards, photos of the doctor with the inscription “Thank you for your life” were published on billboards across the country.
Venzhynovych had a wife and two children.
