Hospitals in Mykolaiv: How Medicine Works in the Frontline City 

For more than 250 days Ukraine has been fighting a major war against Russia. Mykolaiv has become a front-line town in this battle. The inhabitants of the shipyard town are now under enemy fire almost daily

During the war the city was shelled for 44 days. Every day the occupiers destroy schools, universities, theatres, residential buildings, everything they call "military bases"

In the spring, the Russians broke a pipe that supplied water to the city from the Dnieper River in Kherson oblast. Local authorities found a temporary solution, taking it from the Southern Bug. But it is not purified enough. As a result, water damages the city's pipeline system. Breakdowns occur constantly. The situation may worsen in winter. Water is also not suitable for food. Purified water is delivered to the city from all over Ukraine as humanitarian aid. Citizens fill up bottles of it to use in their everyday lives

The city continues to function as much as it can, with shops and cafes operating. Some of the townspeople who left earlier are even returning, despite pleas from local authorities not to do so for the time being

Medical facilities in the city also continue to operate under daily shelling. According to the city council website, there are more than 20 communal medical facilities in the city

Most of them have already been damaged by enemy shells. This is another kind of tactic by the Russians to destroy the medical infrastructure. The pretext is still the same: they are looking for ephemeral military personnel hiding there

Of course, the status of a front-line city says that wounded soldiers will be treated in hospitals. But simple "civilian" illnesses have not gone anywhere either. War does not mean that the common cold, flu, kidney problems etc. have disappeared

Ivan Kolesnikov is the founder of the volunteer organization Nikovolunteers. He and his team help the city in various ways. He raises money for equipment and cars for the military. He distributes food rations to low-income city residents. They also cooperate with hospitals

Mainlywe work with BSMP (Emergency Medical Services Hospital). We communicate with the head of intensive care unit. He informs us, what needs we can cover. We can help with medicines, bandages, equipment. We also help 5th polyclinic. Sometimes they help us with something. For example, if the polyclinic receives food that they do not need, they can give it to us. We will give it to those who already need it," Kolesnikov says

The volunteer notes that despite the incoming attacks, such as the one on the BSMP, the city hospitals are still operating. The supply is provided through Odessa. The city hospitals have the necessary medicines, but not in sufficient quantity. The hospitals are severely short of colds, painkillers and bandages

In addition, it is physically impossible to stop any of the hospitals, even if a shell landed there, because other medical facilities are also full of patients (the wounded, victims of shelling, seasonal illnesses)

According to the head of Mykolayiv regional council, Anna Zamazeyeva, the total number of patients in Mykolayiv hospitals at the beginning of October was 436

A nurse in one of the Mykolayiv hospitals shared with Sotsportal on condition of anonymity the information about the conditions in which medical personnel have to work. According to her, their hospital has already been shelled twice. There is no glass in the windows, the holes are covered with wooden shields

We work for 1.5 hours a day and every other day because there is a shortage of workers. We have medicine. There are problems with water, sometimes we have it for two days. Nurses and junior staff take water from the tanks in the hospital yard. And now we are still waiting for the commission to check. My question is: at a time like this, when we have a war, there is no water, windows are broken, doctors are almost exhausted, as they say, their nerves are at breaking point, how can there be an inspection?

She also says that the doctors are regularly paid for 1.5 times their wages, although the overtime that sometimes occurs is not included in their salaries. The workers are promised that they will be compensated later. But the nurse is sceptical about this information

In spite of the shelling, the hospital also carries out routine operations. In February and March there were many military wounded. After shelling civilians were also brought into the city. In early September, during heavy fighting near Kherson, there were also many wounded guys. There were a lot of them in all the hospitals. In September a rocket flew at us. Thank God, no victims. Now patients are brought in from the whole city and from the suburbs too

Another doctor, Svetlana Kotova, has written a post in social networks, where she complained that she had left the city back in March and that at first the hospital management had allegedly forced her to write an application for unpaid leave, and now they are asking her to write a letter of resignation

Wehave many girls who left, but there are girls who stayed and work for everyone! By the way, the windows in the hospital and the outpatient clinic blew out. We are very worried about those who are now staying and working there," wrote Kotova.

But immediately other doctors came forward in the comments, who hastened to refute Svetlana's words

User Tatyana Kurgan wrote

I am from Mykolaiv, I did not leave. We did not write any statements, why say that? We still work. Everyone does their job. No one works for everyone! People have left the city, very many people have left. The number of patients has decreased. We work because people need us. I am a paediatrician.

Kurgan also reported that the salaries are now the same in all hospitals, increased. This is the salary of medical staff from January 1, 2022. She admits that with the current inflation, it is certainly not enough money to live on. But some do not have such salaries either

The previous major shelling of Mykolaiv, when medical facilities were damaged, took place on September 4. Several medical facilities were damaged then, and the building of one of Mykolaiv's hospitals was almost completely destroyed by Russian missiles.

The locals bitterly admit that this will probably not be the last Russian missile to land in a Mykolayiv hospital