The doctor fighting for women’s health on Ukraine’s front line

In a rural village close to the Ukrainian front, a group of women quietly in line with a purple and white ambulance, painting the blue and yellow of the flag of the Ukraine by a doctor with a shaved head.

For many, they have seen a doctor for the first time since the war began more than three years ago.

Since 2022, 53 -year -old Dr Serhii Baksheiev, ‘Woman Hine’ called a bright pink examination chair completed and completed in the mobile clinic of the pre -line and occupied areas of women in the occupied areas of more than 1,000 gynecological exams.

“This is a humanitarian volunteer task. For people who need this help, where there is no doctor or hospital, and absolutely free,” he says.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the war with Russia has brought a major coercion to Ukraine’s health system with more than 1,940 attacks on health facilities since the invasion – the highest number in any human crisis – and has been a significant increase in these attacks since December 2023.

When the war began, Dr Baksheiev, a birth expert and gynecologist, initially spent his days in a shelter in Kiev, and the bombs helped to surrender the babies when the bombs fell above.

On the way, the idea of ​​a clinic came to him, then he said that the medical volunteer tasks on the façade revealed the lack of facilities because medical centers and hospitals were completely destroyed.

“We went to Kharkiv and Chernihiv, who was very damaged, and the hardest thing was not gynecological services because there was no vehicle and equipment, because everything was ruined,” he says.

Dr Baksheiev and his team would have to use everything that was present as an exam table, including old courses, so he would have to kneel on the ground to take the exam.

Today, while wandering around the electric vehicle, it is clear that Dr Baksheiev is incredibly proud of its abilities: it is equipped with everything that it may need in these remote areas, including medical equipment to perform small surgeries.

During a two-day task, the team can perform 80 colposcopies-where they examine the cervix and vulva for cancer or cancerous tissue symptoms.

Work is very important for people living in these remote areas.

His visits to small rural villages occupied by the Russians are usually secretly performed. He and his team enter for a day or two to follow their exams and leave before they are identified.

The figures provided by the Ministry of Public Health of Ukraine show their detection rates for ovarian and cervical cancers.

And when doctors like Dr. Baksheiev enter these areas to take exams, they find a higher incidence than the average malignant tumor incidence.

According to Frida Ukrainian volunteers of Medical Organization Dr. Baksheiev volunteers, after the examination, an average of up to 4% of all women is diagnosed with malignant tumors.

Dr Ulaana Supron was the Minister of Health of Ukraine from 2016 to 2019. As the war continues, he says that the health results were concern about the “time bomb”.

“In the public health community, there is absolutely a lot of concern about what will happen as the war continues,” he says.

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

Dr Supron said the government has managed to restore the medical facility of 964, which was damaged by Russia, partially or completely.

“They are working closely with DSO and other international organizations to prepare a plan to rebuild the health system before Russia’s invasion.”

Despite the diagnosis of cancer in September 2024, Dr Baksheiev continues to volunteer and treatment for women throughout the country.

“In addition to the medical examination, you hear them because many patients have stories about how the Russians attack their villages.”

“So we’re not just a doctor, we’re therapists of these patients.”