Vitaliy Dubil,
Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program - Master's level students, The University of Texas - Arlington, 2011, MBA,
International humanitarian project "Support Hospitals in Ukraine”
The ongoing war in Ukraine has left thousands dead and tens of thousands wounded. Whether it’s in or out of the headlines of the global media outlets, the military crisis in Ukraine continues. Hospitals in Ukraine are under immense strain that will likely continue for a long time regardless of how quickly the war can be ended. Furthermore, due to the economic turbulence in the country, all public and municipal medical institutions have been substantially underfinanced since the independence in 1991. Doctors and numerous volunteers have been doing a consistently heroic job, but are in dire need of more trauma-related equipment and surgical tools. “Support Hospitals in Ukraine” fulfills one of the most important basic needs - access to quality health care. As the fifth year of conflict in Ukraine begins, hostilities are increasing, but much-needed humanitarian aid from international organizations is coming up short. While Ukrainian government’s ability to respond to the crisis has significantly improved, it is still limited due to the economic situation, and will likely be such for the foreseeable future.
Started in the summer of 2014, International humanitarian project “Support Hospitals in Ukraine” is committed to providing Ukrainian hospitals with much-needed modern medical equipment and supplies shipped from the USA in the form of humanitarian aid. To date, medical cargo valued at US$ 2.4 million was already delivered to Ukraine, and the latest shipment was delivered in late May 2018.The humanitarian project has a major social impact providing support to the people affected by the ongoing war in Eastern Ukraine. The non-profit also builds close ties between the USA and Ukraine, and gives an example of large-scale humanitarian international assistance provided from the United States.III.
The initial goal of the charitable project was to provide support to those affected by the war in the regions close to the military conflict zone (eastern and central parts of the country as well as the capital Kyiv). Also, due to the massive toll of the war on the civilian population, our initial focus was primarily on hospitals dealing with trauma. As the humanitarian project evolved, we expanded the scope to also cover hospitals and other medical facilities in the following additional categories:(a), underserved medical fields - neurosurgery, oncology, pediatric surgery, and rehabilitation services.(b), new regions – western and southern regions of the country. The planned changes will help increase coverage of our humanitarian aid and provide support to a larger number of people in need. Taking into consideration the fact that the humanitarian project 'Support Hospitals in Ukraine' has been providing support to the largest medical institutions in the biggest cities in Ukraine, the number of users of the humanitarian aid in 2018 was approximately 155,500 people, with the total number of patients in the supported hospitals of 1.43million. The users are represented by three categories: (1) wounded civilians and soldiers from the war zone in Eastern Ukraine, (2) internally displaced civilians; (3) local inhabitants in the regions that received our support. For more information, please visit www.uahospitals.org and www.facebook.com/ua.hospitals", Started in 2014; ongoing.
