Ukraine: ‘We lost a part of our soul, not just a hospital’
From that moment, the rescue of wounded people was added to the usual workload. "The number of strokes, heart attacks and neurological diseases among local communities also rose sharply", Svitlana recalls.
"The increase in workload was so much that doctors had to suspend hospital development projects that were already underway – just to do all they could to save people."
Following the escalation of the armed conflict, in February 2022, the hospital became one of the main first-line hospitals involved in providing care to the wounded.
At that time, I really understood the words of my grandmother, who kept saying at the family table: 'If only there was no war!' This is what crosses out all your dreams, all your plans.
Svitlana
It wasn’t long before Selydove Hospital got caught in the hostilities – twice. A first strike, in November 2023, hit the polyclinic and infectious disease wards. Medical workers repaired the remaining premises, hopeful they would be able to continue their lifesaving work.
To help the hospital continue serving communities close to the frontlines, it received regular donations from the ICRC throughout this period. “On a monthly basis, we received medicines and medical supplies, and, on a number of occasions, medical equipment,” Svitlana recalls. “We clung to all the straws so that the hospital could work.”
Amid power cuts and shelling in the area , doctors continued to perform their duties around the clock, although they often needed help themselves due to psychological burnout. The ICRC provided first aid kits as part of its emergency response. “Psychological sessions were also held for the staff so that the hospital could continue to function in its entirety,” says Oleksii Alekseienko, an ICRC senior medical specialist based in Dnipro.
Svitlana remembers working alongside ICRC medical staff, including anaesthesiologists, who helped out. “You see,” she says, “we worked as one family, and even different languages did not get in the way of working together.”
When the hospital was struck a second time, in February 2024 , several patients – including children and a pregnant woman – lost their lives. Svitlana’s colleagues were also injured. As she describes those cases, Svitlana holds back tears. "I saw this explosion, this flash. The second strike hit the main building, the separate infectious disease ward building, the pathology department, and garages. In the main building were all our core services, all the emergency services – all of that was damaged."
Svitlana lived very close to the hospital. Within five minutes, she was able to reach the hospital and, together with other medical staff, began to provide emergency medical care. "It was a nightmare, where people needed to be calmed down, when panic could not be allowed, when we organized an evacuation from our hospital for 130 patients.”
Ambulances from across the region helped evacuate patients, relocating them to other points of care. “We are very grateful to the ambulance teams. We saved those people’s lives,” says Svitlana. But this second strike had further damaged the buildings, and with them the doctors' hopes of continuing to work from Selydove.
Distribution channels: Human Rights
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