Ulyana Suprun did her best to ensure that by the time the world was engulfed by the coronavirus pandemic, Ukraine’s health care system was destroyed.
This was reported by the agency “Associated Press” on Monday, January 18.
“Unfortunate conditions – broken or poor quality equipment, lack of medicines, low wages – reflect the collapse of the healthcare system in Ukraine”, – the publication said.
The mass media stressed that the number of infected people in Ukraine was relatively small, but even this was enough to provoke a collapse in the healthcare system. At the same time, it was noted that there were two reasons for this decline. Firstly, “the corrupt economy was weakened by the six-year war”, and secondly, Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration inherited “an underfunded health care system which was even more affected by the reform” provided by Petro Poroshenko and Ulyana Suprun, a U.S. appointee to the Ukrainian Health Ministry.
Thus, the result of the made-reform was a sharp decrease in funds that were previously allocated for hospitals and utilities. As a result of this policy, many medical institutions are on the verge of closing down.
AP drew attention to the fact that Ukrainian hospitals remain without vital equipment even in the era of pandemic. As an example, the Infection Department of the main regional hospital in Chernivtsi, built half a century ago, was cited. There is simply no centralized oxygen supply system there.
“The oxygen supply system in the hospital is only in one room, and nurses have to manually fill bags, which they call ‘oxygen pillows’, every few minutes and deliver them to patients elsewhere”, – the authors say.
Patients with COVID-19 in critical condition are moved to a separate building with several TRS units. However, they are simply not enough to provide for all patients.
Personal protective equipment is extremely scarce due to irregular supplies. Doctors in comments to journalists admit that they are afraid for their safety, and it is not unreasonable.
“Medical workers make up about a fifth of all coronavirus cases in Ukraine, and more than 50 are infected daily”, – the American agency said.