Doctor fighting for women’s health on the front line of Ukraine

In a rural village, near the Ukrainian front, a group of women who are quietly standing outside the purple and white ambulance, waiting for him to see his shaved head painted blue and yellow from the Ukrainian flag.

For many of them for the first time seeing a doctor, because the war began more than three years ago.

Since 2022, 53 -year -old Dr. Sergiev, he held more than 1000 gynecological exams on women across the front -line and employed areas in his altered mobile clinic -called “Women’s Transfer” and complete with a bright pink chair.

“This is a humanitarian voluntary mission. It is for people who need help, in places where there are no doctors and hospitals, and it’s absolutely free,” he says.

The war with Russia has weakened a huge burden on the health care system of Ukraine since more than 1940 attacks on medical institutions since the invasion, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) – making it the highest number in any humanitarian crisis today – and with a significant increase in these attacks since 2023.

When the war began, D -R Bakshiev, who is an obstetrician and gynecologist, initially spent his days in the bunker in Kiev, helping the babies when the bombs fell higher.

According to him, the idea for the clinic on the way came to it, after later medical voluntary missions on the front line, the absence of objects was shown because medical centers and hospitals were completely destroyed.

“We went to Kharkiv and Chernihiv, which were very damaged, and the most difficult thing was unable to provide gynecological services because there were no tools and equipment because everything was spoiled,” he says.

The D -Rus Bakshiev and his team will have to use everything available as an exam table, including old sofas, that is, he will have to kneel on the floor to take the exams.

Today, passing by electric cars, it is clear, Dr. Bakshiev is incredibly proud: he was created by all that he and his team may need in these remote areas, including an ultrasonic machine and medical equipment for minor operations.

During a two-day mission, the team can perform up to 80 colposcopy-where they study the cervix and vulva for signs of cancer or pre-cancer.

Work is crucial for people living in these remote areas.

His visits to small rural villages occupied by Russians are often held secret. He and his team slipped on the day to take the exams and leave before they discover them.

The figures provided by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and are observed by the indicators of the BBC for ovarian and cervix detection decreased by 17% and 10% respectively since 2020.

And when doctors such as Dr. Baksheyev get into these areas for exams, they find higher than the average malignancies.

On average, up to 4% of all women are diagnosed with malignant tumors after examination, reports Frida Ukraine, Medical Organization of D -Bakshiev volunteers.

D -Rance Supron was the Minister of Health of Ukraine from 2016 to 2019. She says there is a “bombing time that spends” health results “when the war continues.

“The public health community is certainly worried about what will happen if the war is going on,” she says.

“Not only in terms of physical health, but also mental health – because there is constant stress, constant psychological trauma.”

D -R Supn says the government has succeeded in part or fully resumed as many as 964 medical institutions that were damaged by Russia.

“They work closely with the WHO and other international organizations to try to come up with a plan of how we can restore the health care system that was on the spot before Russia’s invasion,” she adds.

Despite the diagnosis of cancer in September 2024, D -R -Bakshiev continues to voluntarily and provide treatment for women across the country.

“In addition to medical examination, you also hear them because many patients have stories about how Russians attacked their villages,” he says.

“So, we are not only doctors, we are therapists for these patients.”