Today, on December 24, in Donetsk, DPR Healthcare Minister Olga Dolgoshapko gave a briefing on the results of 2019, a correspondent of the DPR official website reports.
Olga Dolgoshapko spoke about the results achieved under the Humanitarian Programme for the Reunification of Donbass People in the field of healthcare.
“I recall you that this program was launched in 2017 with a view to providing specialized, highly qualified medical care to our citizens. We do not divide our citizens into those who live in the territory of the DPR, and those who found themselves beyond its borders by a whim of fate. We are all one people, and we perfectly realize that all people should receive qualified medical care – regardless of their place of residence. Therefore, the Programme continues to gain momentum, and today we are summing up the results of 2019. I would like to note that this year more than 5.5 thousand of our fellow citizens living in the temporarily Ukraine-controlled territory of Donbass received help in various ways,” Olga Dolgoshapko explained.
She also noted that, like in previous years, assistance was provided in such main sectors of healthcare as the treatment of oncological diseases, including oncohematological diseases, assistance in obstetric care, mother and child care, joint replacement, and implantation of intraocular lenses. Along with that, multidisciplinary highly specialized care was provided in outpatient and clinical treatment, surgical treatment of degenerative diseases and spinal injuries, cardiac surgery, and vaccination.
“Oncological treatment dominates, we exceeded the plan in it. On the one hand, it’s good that we can provide such assistance to our fellow countrymen. They are provided with free assistance, as well as residents of the DPR. But, as the Minister of Health, I am very concerned that we, unfortunately, have an increasing incidence of cancer, and every year there are more and more people in need of this assistance.
I would be glad if we overfulfilled the norm in child deliveries, provided assistance to our young mothers and large families. I would be happy if the birth rate rose every year, and the death rate declined. Unfortunately, this is not so yet. But women seeking obstetric care come to us from different parts of the Donetsk region, because the Donetsk Republican Perinatal Center for Maternal and Child Welfare and the Makeyevka Perinatal Center have been preserved and are still operating in our Republic,” the Minister of Health said.
Olga Dolgoshapko emphasized that the development of the Humanitarian Programme in this direction continues. The most complicated deliveries take place at the Center for Maternal and Child Welfare.
“The Republican Trauma Center is also operating, people visit it to restore their joints and get assistance, just to be able to walk the earth. I am pleased to note the fact that our ophthalmological service has operated very well, having exceeded the plan provided for by the Humanitarian Programme this year.
I would also like to say that we are very grateful for the help that we received in terms of medical equipment. In the entire history of Ukraine, we have never witnessed such a provision of medical equipment as over the years of the Humanitarian Programme’s operation. This year, the Donetsk People’s Republic, and in particular the Republican Children’s Clinical Hospital, received a magnetic resonance imager, which is already installed and will be actively engaged since the new year. The Republican Trauma Center received a new computed tomography scanner, now it is being set up. Starting from the new year, it will also be put into operation Modern X-ray complexes were provided to the Donetsk Territorial and Clinical Association and the Novoazovsk Central District Hospital. This equipment has already been put into operation. We are grateful to everyone who provides humanitarian assistance to us, and we really hope for further fruitful cooperation. I am sure that the Humanitarian Programme will continue to operate, and we will provide assistance to all our fellow countrymen,” Olga Dolgoshapko said.