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Report On this day in mid-July, 189 patients are being treated in the 215-bed facility. Due to the war, the departments of traumatology and surgery have grown.
At dawn on February 24, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, a massive explosion resounded in the suburbs of Uman, a city of 80,000 people halfway between Kyiv and Odessa. A weapons depot hit by a missile. As of 6 a.m. Oleksandr Maksytov, Deputy Chief Physician at Oumane Municipal Hospital, who was on duty that night, saw the first casualties of the war arrive, eight men. “Four soldiers were treated in neurosurgery for head trauma, the other four had broken legs or collarbones from shrapnel,” says Dr. Maksytov. Two returned to the army and the other six are in rehabilitation. »
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Oumane has not been the target of an attack since that shattering dawn that changed the fate of Ukraine and its people. The front line is far away. Kherson is just over 250 kilometers to the south-east, and Donbass is 600 kilometers to the east. The city seems peaceful like many places in this country larger than France. But no one can trust that calm, as shown by the attack by three Russian missiles on Vinnytsia on Thursday, July 14, which killed 23 and wounded more than 90. A town scarcely more than a hundred kilometers from Oumane and even further from the front.
Oleksandr Maksytov, Deputy Chief Physician of Uman Municipal Hospital, in the corridors of the facility in Ukraine, July 13, 2022. ADRIEN VAUTIER / LE PICTORIUM POUR “LE MONDE”
Nurses at the hospital in Uman, Ukraine, July 13, 2022. ADRIEN VAUTIER / LE PICTORIUM POUR “LE MONDE”
When it is pointed out that war seems far away, Anna Tsyktor, communications manager for the municipality of Oumane, on whom the hospital depends and who takes part in the interview, stiffens. “We don’t have the impression that the war is on the other side of the country! “And several times a day to conjure up the sirens of air alerts, the overflights of missiles and fighter jets, and the parade of wounded volunteers. The ground floor windows remain covered in black paper blocking the light, an inadequate reminder of the threat, while the regular sirens no longer have the desired effect on people who give up rushing to shelters. The 11pm-5am curfew is not always observed, although police patrol and punish offenders.
Inflow of donations and shortage of doctors
In the very wooded park, the hospital buildings are dilapidated. But the reception and main corridor are clean and new, gray linoleum, cream walls, white ceiling, clear signage. However, as soon as you pass the door at the back, you fall back into decay. “Renovation work was halted by the war,” notes Dr. Maksytov. But equipment donations are pouring in from all over the world. “We don’t know where to take them anymore. They come from the UK, Italy, France, Poland, Romania, the United States, Germany, Estonia, arrive every week, organized by private individuals, companies and NGOs.
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