Executive Committee supports three-year programme to support Mykolaiv hospitals

Emergency hospital in Mykolaiv, 19 June 2024, photo by NikVesti

The Executive Committee of the Mykolaiv City Council has approved a programme for the development and support of municipal healthcare facilities in the city and the provision of medical services beyond the scope provided for in the programme of state guarantees for public services for 2026-2028.

The decision was made at a meeting of the executive committee on Wednesday, 8 October, according to NikVesti.

Iryna Shamrai, head of Mykolaiv's healthcare department, said that a working group had been working on the programme since June. The document has passed all the approvals of the relevant departments and meets all the requirements.

«Even when forming a capable network, the programme takes into account all the areas that our population needs for the next three years. The reorganisation of healthcare facilities, which may or may not take place, depending on the situation, does not affect the programme in any way. Because our programme is based on the targeted method», commented Iryna Shamrai.

The draft decision states that the programme provides funding for the modernisation of hospitals, the purchase of modern equipment, the development of rehabilitation services, the fight against infectious, cardiovascular and cancer diseases, as well as support for privileged categories of the population — the military, people with disabilities, IDPs, orphans, etc.

Screenshot from the draft solution

The programme aims to ensure the stable operation of hospitals, upgrade equipment, improve the quality of medical services and support the provision of care beyond the scope of the state medical guarantee programme.

The programme also includes measures to prevent diseases, raise public awareness of healthy lifestyles and improve the demographic situation in the community.

The members of the Executive Committee supported the draft decision unanimously.

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Earlier it was reported that 23 full-time administrative and business staff positions are to be dismissed in Mykolaiv Primary Healthcare Centres starting in September.

As a reminder, members of the Mykolaiv City Council's Commission on Human Rights, Children, Family, Legality and Publicity asked the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration to speed up consideration of the issue of creating a capable network of healthcare facilities.

Reorganisation of Mykolaiv hospitals

As you know, the Mykolaiv Health Department has come up with an initiative to reduce the number of hospitals in the city from six to three by merging them. In addition to merging hospitals, the reform will also include Maternity Hospital №3, which, unlike other maternity hospitals in the city that were merged with hospitals last year and became departments, remained an independent legal entity.

• The ambulance hospital and hospital №4 are to be merged with hospital №1;
• Maternity Hospital No. 3 and Children's Hospital №2 — to Hospital №3 (Dubky);
• Hospital №5 (Korabelnyi district) will not be affected by the reform.

During the commission meeting, Iryna Shamrai, Head of the Mykolaiv Health Department, explained that the need to reorganise and merge large hospitals in Mykolaiv this year was due to the requirements of the National Health Service of Ukraine to provide full funding for medical services provided.

Olena Kiseliova, the head of the deputy commission on legality of the Mykolaiv City Council and a member of the European Solidarity party, expressed strong criticism of the plans to reorganise the city's medical network.

However, on 29 May, members of the Mykolaiv City Council unanimously withdrew the issue of reorganising the city's medical institutions from the session's agenda, as it had not passed the relevant and other commissions.

Therefore, at the next session of the Mykolaiv City Council, which will take place on 26 June, the project to merge Maternity Hospital №3 and Children's Hospital №2 with City Hospital №3 was reintroduced («Dubky»).

In addition, the deputies of the Mykolaiv City Council were offered a new decision to merge the city's medical institutions, and now the first aid station and hospital №1 are proposed to be merged with hospital №4. Previously, it was proposed to merge medical institutions around the first hospital.

Merger of polyclinics

Five out of seven medical centres may also disappear in the city. The decision to be submitted to the city council for consideration involves the merger of five polyclinics with two others, № 2 and №3. In particular, polyclinics №1 and №7 are to be merged with centre №2, and polyclinics №4, №5, and №6 with centre №3.

At the same time, the staff of Primary Health Care Centre №1 in Mykolaiv appealed to the head of the regional military administration, Vitalii Kim, the mayor of the city, Oleksandr Senkevych, and the National Health Service to assess the actions of the city health department, which wants to liquidate profitable family outpatient clinics. The doctors report psychological pressure, mass dismissals and devastating consequences of this decision for patients and the city's healthcare system.

Commenting on the doctors' disagreement with the reorganisation, Iryna Shamrai, head of Mykolaiv's healthcare department, reminded that some of the heads of the primary healthcare centres are temporary and may not have the necessary qualifications.

The staff of Primary Healthcare Centre №6 in Mykolaiv also asked not to merge them with other institutions and to allow them to continue working as a separate centre with legal status.

The staff of Primary Healthcare Centre №1 in Mykolaiv also appealed to the mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych and members of the city council to not support the project to reorganise healthcare facilities, which is being put forward for the next session.