Ukrainian clinics in 2023 resumed operations taking into account the wartime situation and opened new areas of care

Kyiv. January 24. INTERFAX-UKRAINE – In 2023, Ukrainian clinics resumed operations taking into account the situation and challenges of wartime and opened new areas of care, in particular those that address the need for treatment of war injuries, rehabilitation and reconstruction.

This was reported on Tuesday by the heads of leading private clinics in Ukraine during a round table at the Interfax-Ukraine agency.

“In 2023, we regained our position in the market share for our usual services – childbirth and pregnancy. There we have already successfully grown into a multidisciplinary medical center, added new services and were able to develop in several new areas, such as obesity treatment, breast and vein surgery, and pediatrics,” said Vadym Zukin, chief operating officer and co-owner of the Leleka Multidisciplinary Medical Center.

At the same time, he named the clinic's confirmation of its Joint Commission International (JCI) international accreditation for 2024 as the biggest achievement of 2023.

“In 2024, we plan to develop the services we already have in new areas for us, and also to launch several services that are unique for Ukraine, which we will be able to talk about at the end of the year,” Zukin said, adding: “We can talk about plans only thanks to our Armed Forces, our defenders, who are currently protecting us at the front.”

For his part, Oleksandr Linchevskyi, chief medical officer of the Dobrobut medical network (Kyiv), recalled the opening in 2023 of a new multidisciplinary hospital on Bazhana Avenue in Kyiv with an area of more than 9,000 sq. m. The Dobrobut Ophthalmology Clinic also began operating in the new hospital last year.

“This opening was planned from the very beginning, before the full-scale invasion; we planned to open it a year earlier. But even in wartime conditions, we were able to open this new hospital with new capabilities, new services, new operating rooms. And, of course, it looks incredible,” he said.

Linchevskyi also reported that in 2023 Dobrobut opened a rehabilitation department at the medical center on Sim'i Idzykovskykh Street in the capital and plans to open the same kind of departments in its outpatient clinic units.

In addition, Dobrobut launched a new Center for Somnology (sleep medicine) and a Center for Onco-Dermatology, which operates under the leadership of Prof. Maria Kukushkina. The network also opened another dental clinic last year — three Dobrobut dental clinics are currently operating in Kyiv.

“We like the result of 2023, although perhaps we would have liked to have part of it in 2022,” he noted.

Commenting on the Dobrobut medical network's development plans for 2024, Linchevskyi said: “If we say that we have nothing to improve, we will be deceiving ourselves.”

“Every comment, any criticism from patients is already a self-sufficient development plan. We simply decide to implement that plan immediately or a little later. War is full of uncertainties, so we will focus on solving operational issues and laying foundations in order to fulfill our hopes and dreams as quickly as possible. We have something to do every day,” he stated.

For his part, Vitalii Hirin, co-owner of the ADONIS medical group, reported that in 2023 the group's clinics provided medical care to more than 250 thousand people. In addition, more than 300 military personnel received rehabilitation care.

Hirin also reported that ADONIS opened two outpatient rehabilitation centers and a rehabilitation center in the left-bank part of Kyiv last year.

“Despite the blackouts and all the problems we have faced, we basically see that the number of our patients is gradually increasing,” he said.

At the same time, Hirin noted that the pre-war years were associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, so comparing the patient flow with the pre-war period would not be accurate. “The figures are not very precise, but we have about 50% fewer patients,” he said.

“The most important achievement is that we were able to keep the team that we have,” Hirin emphasized.

Commenting on plans for 2024, he said that the most important task for ADONIS is to optimize business processes.

“We will introduce new quality standards and present the latest technologies. We also want to focus on developing a culture of regular check-ups, because health is in people's own hands. They have already understood this, and no one but them bears responsibility for it,” he said.

For his part, Rostyslav Valikhnovskyi, director and founder of the medical center Dr. Valikhnovsky Clinic, reported that the clinic specializes in elective and urgent surgeries. In 2023 it expanded and developed a wide range of services for Ukrainian and foreign patients, and it also actively provides the necessary surgical care to military personnel.

“We opened a clinic in Ivano-Frankivsk. It is a full-fledged building built to modern standards, even newer than the one in Kyiv. This clinic helps us a great deal during the war to provide services to those patients who have moved to the west of Ukraine but who need highly specialized surgical services,” he said.

In addition, Valikhnovskyi reported on the construction of a second building in Kyiv with an area of about 2,500 sq. m. Changes were made to this project that provide for expanding the area of the bomb shelters and increasing the bed capacity by 35 units.

In addition, the Dr. Valikhnovsky Clinic launched the educational project Valikhnovsky Academy, in which the mentors are 150 surgeons from various countries with many years of practical experience, along with its own electronic patient record, in which medical data are stored in English. This makes it possible, when necessary, to transfer these data to any medical center in the world.

Commenting on plans for 2024, Valikhnovskyi stressed the intention to build another clinic in Kyiv and in the west of Ukraine.

“Right now we are looking for a building in the capital of 5-6 thousand sq. m that we can reconstruct, or a plot of land for construction. The second part is a clinic in the western region of the country,” he said.

For her part, Oleksandra Zborovska, senior researcher at the State Institution “V. P. Filatov Institute of Eye Diseases and Tissue Therapy of the NAMS of Ukraine” (Odesa), reported that the clinic did not stop operating in 2023. She named the preservation of the scientific and staff team, the continued provision of medical services and scientific research as the main achievements.

According to Zborovska, the number of patients has fully returned to the pre-war level, but the share of severe patients among them has grown. “The number of severe cases is growing more and more,” she stated.

Zborovska also reported that the clinic treated about 1,500 people affected by war injuries – both military personnel and the civilian population.

She also recalled the opening by the institute of a new seven-story building with the most advanced ophthalmological equipment.

In addition, institute staff who deal with the treatment of eye injuries spoke at major international conferences, where they presented their unique experience.

“For us, the breakthrough we were able to achieve on the basis of our experience in creating new projects is of great importance, not only in the practical but also in the scientific direction,” she said.