«Decrease in birth rate» — the RMA explained why maternity hospital №3 in Mykolaiv is planned to be transferred to regional ownership

Iryna Tkachenko, head of the healthcare department of Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, photo: NikVestiMaternity hospital №3 in the Namiv neighbourhood is to be merged with the Mykolaiv Regional Clinical Hospital due to a decline in the birth rate in the region.

This was announced today, 28 November, during a briefing by Iryna Tkachenko, head of the healthcare department of the Mykolaiv regional military administration, NikVesti reports.

It is known that maternity hospital №3 (director Oleh Ishchenko) was previously planned to be merged with hospital №3, but now it is planned to transfer it from Mykolaiv city ownership to regional communal ownership. A special working group has been set up to resolve this issue.

«Indeed, discussions are currently underway between the regional military administration and the city administration regarding the reorganisation, namely the maternity hospital №3 merger with the regional clinical hospital. This is basically due to the fact that in recent years there has been a downward trend in the birth rate in Ukraine. In fact, if you look at the statistics of the last 5 years, it is approximately 4.5-4.2 thousand births in Mykolaiv region in general,» said Iryna Tkachenko.

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According to Iryna Tkachenko, the child population is decreasing: as of 1 November 2025, 3,604 children were born in the Mykolaiv region.

«There has been a downward trend in the child population over the past 5 years. Given that as of 1 November, 3,604 births took place in the region in total, optimisation in the form of a third maternity hospital being attached to the regional clinical hospital is a more effective way to help, firstly, those families where a woman or a father has certain health problemsbut have a great desire to have a child in the family, to help them realise this with the help of the specialists who work in the regional hospital — this includes haematology, nephrology and neurology, that is, to prepare both women and men for the possibility of having a child in the family. Therefore, I believe that this process is necessary. First of all, this is the development of the future childhood in Mykolaiv region,» said Iryna Tkachenko.

Healthcare reform is being discussed in Mykolaiv: what is known

Recently, the Mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, and the Head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration, Vitalii Kim, discussed what a capable network of healthcare facilities should look like. The meeting addressed the issue of merging hospitals and transferring maternity hospital No. 3 to the regional municipal property.

According to Iryna Shamrai, Head of the Mykolaiv Health Department, the meeting took place on 23 October. In addition to the heads of the region and the city, the meeting was attended by specialised deputies and heads of health departments. It was agreed that a capable hospital network would have three cluster institutions — hospitals №3, №4, №5.

• Hospital №5 (director Olena Terentieva), located in Korabelnyi district, is not planned to be reformed.
• City hospital №4 (director Larysa Derhunova) is to be joined by hospital №1 (director Mariia Hrachova, a city council member from the party «Proposal») and the Emergency Medical Care Hospital (EMC) (director Oleksandr Demianov).
• The city children's hospital №2 (director Yurii Diachuk) is planned to be merged with hospital №3 (Dubky) (director Liubov Savchuk).

However, maternity hospital №3 (director Oleh Ishchenko) in the Namyr district, which was previously supposed to be merged with hospital №3, is now to be transferred from Mykolaiv city ownership to regional communal ownership.

Hanna Nord, the head of the healthcare commission of the Mykolaiv City Council, had many questions about the transfer of maternity hospital №3. She noted that the programme for the development and support of municipal institutions included 19 million hryvnias for maternity hospital №3. But why should the funds be allocated if it will be transferred to regional ownership?

In her turn, Iryna Shamrai, head of the Mykolaiv Health Department, assured that there would be no problems with this.

As you know, the issue of reorganising hospitals has already been voted down twice by the city council. On 29 May, the deputies unanimously withdrew the issue of merging the city's medical institutions from the session's consideration, as it had not passed the relevant and other commissions.

After that, on 8 June, the deputies again considered the issue of reorganising municipal healthcare facilities. However, the decision did not receive the required number of votes.