Ukraine, in a Donbass hospital a few kilometers from the front: “We are preparing for the worst, an operating room on the ground floor to avoid bombs”

a A fully functioning hospital, but also an emergency system with ten rescue ambulances in the territories of the disputed areas and five teams treating patients from besieged cities and towns through a system of mobile clinics. In the DonbassAnd Doctors without borders It is the only international organization in existence, a bulwark in the hottest and most dramatic regions of war-torn Ukraine: “We get where others fail, – explains the coordinator of the“ Donbass project ”, Vincent Borbiglia We have been in Donbass since the beginning of the conflict. In fact, we have already been in Ukraine since 2014, when the internal conflict broke out, and then, after the invasion of February 24, 2022, everything changed, which led to the activation of the emergency pool. To do our work there is a team of 135 people which operates between Dnipro and some centers of Donbass, and operates on various fronts, as our projects are activated in practice. MSF has always worked directly on war scenarios and gets straight to the point. Our security rules of engagement differ from other organizations who often can only operate remotely. Of course, the Russians must take over Bakhmutthe first city to be threatened will be its own Konstantinevka. Therefore, it is not said that the scenario will change for us in the future, as we see ourselves forced to do so Evacuation from here And secure our business in the West, behind the safety line.”

MSF ensures treatment for civilians who stubbornly want to stay in their war-threatening homes in the populated centers of Donetsk region. through a system Mobile clinics Periodically, health workers, consisting of nurses and doctors, move across the floor, touching 24 locations. Basic service for the population Their average lifespan is very high They often need urgent health care. Diabetics and heart patients receive treatment on site. The project was activated last October. The basis is a Slovianskanother city threatened by Russian advances and in 2014 in the middle of fierce fighting between pro-Russian and Ukrainian forces for control of the city, is now in Kiev’s hands.

And then there is another part of the “Donbass project”: “We have activated emergency rescue teams in the region with local staff on board about ten ambulances – adds Borbiglia, in Donbass since June 2022 -. Kind of 118 in war zones with Intensive care unit. In the first two weeks of February, we assisted 220 patients. As far as the rescue part is concerned, Doctors Without Borders was the first to cover the emergency cases of citizens in centers liberated from the Russian occupation, including outside the Donbass. think about isium And to the whole oblast Kharkovwhere people no longer had anything and were in tragic conditions.” Finally the basic project. If in Kostantinivka there was no hospital directly managed by MSF in practice It will not be possible to treat civilians injured during the conflict. The war in Donbass has disrupted everything, including the health system in the northwestern part of the region that is still under Ukrainian control. From Pokrovsk to Kramatorsk to Sloviansk There are no health centers equipped with war surgery Able to heal wounds caused by explosions and gunshot wounds. After training provided by an international surgical staff, which is now practically absent in the hospital, two local surgeons ensure surgical interventions for war wounds. The hospital is run by only local staff, including doctors, logisticians, security personnel, etc.