Between life and death: after fleeing Mariupol, a doctor continues his mission

LEOPOLIS, 4 Dec. (By Tetiana Astakhova, IOM Ukraine Special Communications) -

"When the war started, there was not enough time to evacuate Mariupol before it was completely besieged. We understood the risks we were running if we tried to leave the city, so we decided to wait," explains Ihor, a doctor with 30 years of experience.

Ihor and his wife Svitlana spent three weeks in the city, surrounded by Russian troops. Mariupol gained notoriety for Russia's brutal war against Ukraine. According to human rights activists, the war crimes committed in Mariupol by Russian forces are among the most serious in history.

Before the war, Ihor and his wife worked in the clinic of the Azovstal Steel Production Company. When the war started, many residents, company employees and Mariupol supporters hid from the shelling in the factory's bomb shelter.

"We had very few provisions. There was nothing, no electricity, no gas, no water, no heating. Very soon the Russian troops started shelling the city from all sides with different kinds of weapons," Ihor recalls. "We lived on the left bank, which was exactly where the most severe clashes were taking place, since their objective was to take control of the steel-producing company."

Many residential buildings were damaged in Mariupol during the attacks, but Ihor and his wife managed to cross the only bridge still under the control of Ukrainian military forces and were able to stay at a relative's house in the center of the city.

The couple soon managed to escape the besieged city when the first evacuation convoy headed for the city of Zaporizhia in southeastern Ukraine. They spent two days en route and had to go through about 15 Russian military checkpoints. When they finally reached their destination, Ihor and his wife decided to go to Lviv to join their daughter and her grandchildren.

The war forced them to move, but it did not change their main objective: to help others and save lives. In this unfamiliar environment, knowing almost no one in Lviv, they had to start from scratch and look for the right opportunity to fulfill the goal of helping other people.

A short time later they began to work as volunteers while looking for a job. Finally, after several months, the Ukrainian employment center offered them jobs as ultrasound specialists. They are now working on mobile clinics operating outside the Lviv region, with support from the local Sheptytskyi hospital and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The opportunity to continue practicing his medical profession has helped Ihor to keep the faith that soon they will be able to overcome all obstacles. He is always happy to be able to help members of the local community where the mobile clinics provide outpatient care and many of the people who attend medical appointments at the mobile clinics prefer to access the ultrasound performed by Ihor.

According to an IOM survey, one in three displaced people in Ukraine have limited access to health care and medicine. Most of Ihor's patients live in distant places where access to health care is a luxury.

"We provide medical assistance to the displaced, and also to the local population in several villages and small towns in the Lviv region. People are always excited when they see us coming, anxiously waiting their turn, others are coming towards us," Ihor explains. . "We can see that our assistance is crucial as they cannot easily access services like the ones we offer."

In the Lviv region, IOM mobile clinics began operating in April, after local health systems could no longer absorb the flow of people in need of immediate assistance. Thanks to the daily work of the teams, more than 50,000 people in the region are benefiting from the services provided by the mobile clinics managed by IOM.

Ihor says that early identification of pathological conditions increases the chances of referring patients to receive appropriate care, contributing to a greater recovery. For this reason he takes great care of his ultrasound machine. He knows well that many lives depend on it.

((This forum was originally published at the following link: https://storyteller.iom.int/es/stories/entre-la-vida-y-la-mu...))