RE:ACT Provides Spark for Health Centre Recovery

RE:ACT’s Operation Pace, its humanitarian aid mission for the people of Ukraine, is prioritising the delivery of food, medicine, and infrastructure supplies. The provision of electrical generators to hospitals and schools has been a game-changer for some communities ravaged by the conflict. This is Dr Andrii Levkivskyi’s story.

The Primary Health Care Centre in the city of Irpin has been the place generations of locals have sought out when in need of medical treatment and support.

In late February, from the very first days of the conflict in Ukraine, it was where both severely injured soldiers and civilians were rushed too for sometimes life-saving surgery.

At the heart of this team of doctors, nurses, and auxiliary staff, was the centre’s Head, Andrii Levkivskyi.

Dr Andrii had to think fast when the war began. Some of the hospital’s smaller satellite clinics were too close to the frontline and it was dangerous for staff to continue working there. He decided the best thing was to temporarily close them and concentrate efforts in one place.

“We worked 24 hours a day and lived in the basement because moving around the city was very dangerous, and patients were coming in all the time,” said Dr Andrii. “We were treating soldiers and local people. Most were admitted with wounds from mines and other explosives.”

Then on March 5^th– less than two weeks after the war began - the clinic was shelled, and the boiler room and the electrical network were badly damaged. Fortunately, no one was badly hurt but the clinic – the only local place for the wounded to receive treatment – was forced to shut its doors.

“If we had possessed an electrical generator at that time we could have carried on and continued to provide medical care, but we didn’t. We had no heat or water, so we were forced to evacuate because it was no longer possible to operate,” continued Dr Andrii.