With the support of UNFPA, since July 2020, mobile clinics have been launched in the Luhansk and Donetsk Oblasts, providing access to highly specialized medical and socio-psychological services for people living along the contact line and/or in the inaccessible isolated towns in the East of Ukraine.
Mobile clinics conduct examinations, provide critical medical services and identify hidden cases of domestic and gender-based violence. The assistance is targeted at the communities located along the contact line and in the isolated towns in the East of Ukraine, namely in the Bakhmut, Yasynuvata Rayons, Avdiivka City, Donetsk Oblast and Stanytsia-Luhanska, Novoaydar and Popasna Rayons of the Luhansk Oblast.
Each mobile clinic comprises a family doctor, a gynecologist, a social worker, a nurse and a driver. The clinics are equipped with gynecological examination kits, portable electrocardiographs, ultrasound devices, blood pressure measuring and other necessary medical equipment.
To ensure efficient operation during a COVID-19 pandemic, each mobile clinic is provided with the necessary personal protective equipment and disinfectants required during the quarantine.
Hanna Vysotska, UNFPA Program Coordinator in the Luhansk Oblast, emphasized: “Mobile teams are capable to provide patients with all necessary personal protective equipment and have developed an operating procedure for cases of suspected COVID-19”.
The launch of mobile clinics responds to several major challenges associated with limited physical and economic access to quality health care in the region. The first category gynecologist Yevheniya Kyslytsia, who works in one of the mobile clinics in the Luhansk Oblast, commented: “The transport is often unreliable, the JFO is nearby, and quarantine has further complicated the situation. It is difficult for people from many villages, towns, and even whole Rayons to get to the city hospitals”. Mobile clinics make free full basic medical examination available for the most vulnerable populations.
Yevheniya Kyslytsia noted that their team received most requests from women that have not been able to undergo preventive examination for several years: “We often hear: I haven’t been to a professional examination for a long time, I’m afraid of cancer”. Doctors pay special attention to the early detection of cancer, as the success of treatment often depends on the stage at which the diagnosis is made.
Within almost three weeks of operation, the teams of clinics already examined more than 400 patients. Pelvic inflammatory diseases, cardiovascular diseases and digestive disorders, etc. were most often diagnosed.
Mobile clinics cover the maximum range of services during medical examination: full gynecological examination (professional examination of mammary glands, genitals, cytology), ultrasound of the pelvis, kidneys, liver, pancreas, mammary and thyroid glands, prostate. The clinics work not only with adults, but also with children and adolescents, and can provide full advice to the family on children’s health.
In the Donetsk Oblast, the medical team started its work in Avdiivka; the until the end of July patients will be received at the Avdiivka Central Hospital. The schedule of work of the mobile medical team in the Luhansk Oblast for July 2020 is as follows – Popasna Rayon: July 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 13, 20, 27 – Popasna (women’s consultation); July 4, 9, 16, 23, 30 – Hirsk; July 7, 28 – Druzhba; July 10 – Shchebkarier; July 11, 25 – Viskryva; July 14, 29 – Kamyshuvaha; July 15 – Nyrkove; July 17 – Vrubivka; July 18 – Mykolayivka; July 21 – Novoannivka; July 22 – Novooleksandrivka; July 24 – Carbonit; July 31 – Zolote.
UNFPA Ukraine ensures the mobile clinics’ operation in cooperation with the Departments of Health of the Luhansk and Donetsk Oblast State Administrations, the Women’s Health and Family Planning Charitable Foundation, and the Ukrainian Medical Mission NGO. The project is implemented with the financial support of the UK Government.
