One pharmacy for 11 villages: how residents of de-occupied Mykolaiv region received medicines

The Pervomaisk village community in Mykolaiv region, home to more than four thousand people, has only one pharmacy left. Prior to the full-scale invasion, there were three pharmacies in the community, but now only a pharmacy in the outpatient clinic of Pervomaiske village is open.

This was reported by the online media outlet Suspilne.

Before the start of the full-scale war, about 10 thousand people lived in the community. As of September 2024, the population has decreased to 4034 people.

According to Pavlo Tsop, director of the Medical Center for Primary Health Care, there are no problems with the supply of medicines in the community. People with insulin dependence receive medicines centrally. There is also a reimbursement program that allows people to receive certain medicines for free or with a small surcharge. To do this, a patient must sign a declaration with a doctor.

Volunteer doctor Serhiy Petrenko noted that volunteers regularly visit de-occupied communities. They bring medicines for cardiovascular and endocrine diseases, bandages and painkillers.

The doctors see patients in the outpatient clinic, provide consultations and distribute the medicines that are available. Currently, there is only one pharmacy in the community, located in the outpatient clinic of Pervomaiske village. The head of the village military administration, Maksym Korovai, said that all three pharmacies in the community were damaged by the fighting.

A mobile hospital of the Ukrainian Red Cross is operating in the remaining villages. Partially free medicines are provided under the state program," Korovai explained.

According to pharmacist Iryna Yaroshuk, the pharmacy reopened in September 2023. The pharmacy is open six days a week from 8:00 to 16:00. Residents of the community can order the necessary medicines, and they are delivered within two to three days.

Residents of other villages in the community get to the pharmacy in Pervomaiske by minibus or by their own transport. A Red Cross mobile hospital also periodically visits the community to provide medical care.

Currently, two such mobile pharmacies serve 24 settlements in the de-occupied territories of the region. We also continue to cooperate with the PCVO "Pharmacy" and heads of territorial communities on other forms of providing people with medicines where there are no pharmacies at all and have never been.

Since March 2024, a mobile hospital has been running in the villages of the Bereznehuvata community. This is the second mobile outpatient clinic delivered to Mykolaiv region by philanthropists. The hospital is used to provide primary health care, dental services, and medical consultations.

The complex is fully equipped for full-fledged work: it has a generator, medical equipment, including dental kits, a heart monitor, a defibrillator, a coagulator, a laryngoscope, etc.

Recently, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine allocated more than UAH 44 million to support medical facilities in Mykolaiv and Kherson regions. An additional amount of subvention from the state budget was distributed to local budgets to support certain institutions and activities in the healthcare system.

Анна Бальчінос