As fighting continues in Eastern Ukraine between government forces and pro-Russia separatists, questions swirl in the headlines about the Ukrainian military's readiness and the availability of appropriate equipment. As the situation slowly improves for Kiev, and Ukrainians receive sorely needed professional training and advice, other battlefield issues are just as important as ever. One major issue is medical assistance, and the quality of aid that injured soldiers are getting at the front lines. Ukrainian daily Obozrevatel.ua recently interviewed Col. Yuri Ilyashenko, the chief physician of the Military Medical Clinical Center of the Northern Region, who is currently deployed to fight the separatists in the country's east.
Obozrevatel noted that when the war started in the Donbas region, Ukrainian military doctors were forced to conduct the most operations on the front lines due to a lack of adequate evacuation procedures and logistics. Ilyashenko noted that now, military doctors no longer need to conduct such operations in the line of fire -- their current task has changed to stabilizing the injured and their evacuation away from the fighting:
"We have established integrated systems of emergency care and evacuation. If the distance from the front to the mobile hospital is too great, emergency assistance is provided by medical teams deployed at district hospitals. After surgical intervention and the provision of other kinds of care, the wounded are evacuated either to a military mobile hospital, or directly to hospitals outside the anti-terrorist operations area."
Ilyashenko also noted that soldiers are becoming more familiar with individual medical kits that were initially absent from their personal battlefield equipment. The colonel also assured that almost all soldiers on the front lines have at least three basic items in their medical kit -- a tourniquet, bandages, and painkillers.
Obozrevatel noted that there were many cases during recent fighting where Ukrainian military doctors gave assistance to separatist prisoners, as well as cases when Ukrainian military prisoners received much-needed care in rebel-held Donetsk. Another question asked of Ilyashenko concerned the simple medical goal to save lives, no matter which uniform the injured combatant is wearing. Ilyashenko replied in the affirmative: "If the doctor has honor and conscience, then while he is performing medical duties, his main task is to save lives. It does not matter who is in a hospital bed - a separatist or our soldier. On the other hand, if I was told to treat someone like Hitler -- yes, as a doctor I would perform my duty and do everything to save a life. But when someone like Hitler would be released beyond the threshold of the hospital, and I take off my medical coat, then do not expect from me any mercy and compassion -- as a person and a patriot of Ukraine.
"On the other hand," remarked the colonel, "I know from experience that medical solidarity exists in any political situation. Throughout the year, at different times, two soldiers came to our Military Medical Clinical Center in Kharkov with cases of botulism. Ukraine does not have the serum for this disease and without it, patients could have died. People's lives were at stake, the situation was critical. We therefore reached out via our professional channels to the physicians in the Russian Federation. Russian doctors found the appropriate serum and passed it to us in Kharkov within 24 hours. The lives of these two soldiers - who fought against pro-Russia separatists - were saved."
Presently, all factors point to an uphill but necessary struggle to rapidly modernize all facets of the Ukrainian military, from weapons to medical assistance in battle. Experts point out that Ukraine is working to improve the quality of military equipment in order to meet NATO standards in advance of potentially joining the alliance in the near future.
(AP photo)