In Makariv, doctors from Okhmatdyt examined a record number of children in one day
On August 3, 2023, in Makariv, 26 doctors from the Okhmatdyt National Specialized Children’s Hospital examined all children who attended. They have examined a record number of 311 children in one clinic day.
Makariv sustained great damage in the spring of 2022: all the town medical facilities were damaged, while the outpatient clinic was burned to the ground. Laboratories and other medical facilities in the community were also either destroyed or damaged.
The visit of doctors from the capital was a follow-up of the custom “Health Bank” campaign. The initiative is being implemented in cooperation with Okhmatdyt, the National Children’s Specialized Hospital of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, supported by the “MHP for Community” Charitable Foundation and assisted by Vadym Tokar, the head of Makariv village council.
Volodymyr Zabela, the MHP manager, took the initiative to organize a medical examination of children in Makariv.
Doctors from Okhmatdyt started their visits to the de-occupied regions in May 2022. Voluntary, doctors went to see young patients who suffered as a result of the war. Later, doctors started visiting other regions. After all, according to their observations, chronic stress due to war, missile attacks, and air raid alerts affects children’s health even in relatively safe regions. This initiative was supported by the “MHP for Community” Charitable Foundation, which managed to organize 7 visits in Vinnytsia and Kyiv regions. Also, 5 more visits are planned until the end of 2023.
“For a year and a half, we have already examined 7,200 children. We had a total of 53 visits. We have observed that children suffer from overeating more often – they comfort-eat and have GIT and endocrinology problems. Gynecologists record disturbances in girls’ menstrual cycles: some have bleedings more often, while others, on the contrary, have early puberty. Parents have also a great demand for psychological consultations as their children have sleep disorders and increased anxiety. I wish all this could be diagnosed in time at an early stage, therefore, we will continue our visits to regions,” comments Olha Medvedieva, head of the pediatric department of Consultative and Diagnostic Polyclinic at Okhmatdyt National Specialized Children’s Hospital.
“Logistics is also quite complex at the moment. We get requests from communities, because, for example, it is more difficult for a non-Kyivite family to travel to the capital and undergo an examination there. Air raid alerts, when all public transport stops, and missile attacks, when all institutions suspend their activities, add to the pool of problems. It takes several days to get to all the doctors and wait for the test results. Therefore, we decided to support such visits and scale them up to different regions. As children are our most important investment in the future of Ukraine,” adds Volodymyr Zabela, MHP manager.
The doctors themselves call such examinations “field polyclinic”. First of all, it is due to the powerful hematological analyzer, which can get a blood test done by almost 30 indicators just in a few seconds.
“My laboratory assistant takes a blood sample and hands it over to me. I put the test tube into the analyzer, and in a few seconds, I have the results by 24 indicators: the level of red blood cells, platelets, and others. Even private clinics do not do these tests that quickly. I immediately forward the obtained results to the next table where our doctor Olha Medvedieva comments on them. It means that a child or parents with a child actually spend a few minutes to get a checkup, laboratory examination, and recommendations from doctors,” says Halyna Kandrionkina, head of the clinical laboratory.
Moreover, after such visits, the managers of the “MHP to the Community” Charitable Foundation in cooperation with doctors have initiated the #нечекайзчекапом (#don’tputcheckupoff) campaign, which is aimed to encourage parents to take their children for preventive examinations more often. After all, stress and war provoke children’s diseases that are difficult to detect at an early stage, even if these children do not live close to the front line or have never been in occupation. Therefore, to ensure and preserve children’s health, leading doctors of Ukraine appeal to Ukrainians not put off a check-up but to make an appointment to get their children examined.
