Due to new requirements regarding the number of operations, the National Health Service of Ukraine will not be funding the surgical department in Domanivka

The National Health Service of Ukraine will not be funding the surgical and gynaecological department at Domanivka Hospital. Photo: Domanivka General Hospital

In the Domanivka community, the gynaecological and surgical department at the general hospital is under threat. From 1 July, the National Health Service will cease funding surgical departments if they perform fewer than 600 major operations. Consequently, the department in Domanivka will be funded by the community until the end of the year.

This was reported by the Domanivka General Hospital.

In June, at a meeting of the Domanivka Settlement Council’s health committee, councillors discussed the issue regarding the surgical department. Community leader Viktor Vlasiuk stated that the Mykolaiv Regional Council will be approving the network of healthcare facilities. The hospital in Domanivka, which is currently a general hospital, may change its status to a general medical facility or a community healthcare centre.

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The community leader noted that the Domanivka Hospital, in collaboration with German partners, will work on developing its rehabilitation services.

«The Germans are providing, and will continue to provide, financial support specifically for the development of rehabilitation services,» said Viktor Vlasiuk.

According to the village council, the Domanivka community is one of 10 communities selected to take part in the international «Rehabilitation Programme Ukraine» (Rehabilitation Programme for Ukraine, RPU, — note), which is being implemented with the support of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany.

«The programme is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Government. Participation in the Programme is aimed at developing the system for providing rehabilitation services at community level, improving their quality and accessibility for the population. One of the key objectives is to ensure that community residents can receive specialist rehabilitation care in their place of residence,» the community reported.

However, the question remains as to whether the medical facility will change its status to that of a community hospital, as a problem has arisen regarding the funding of the surgical department.

Meeting of the Committee on Education and Healthcare of the Domanivka Settlement Council. Screenshot from the live stream

Liliia Huzenko, Chief Medical Officer of the Domanivka Multidisciplinary Hospital, reported that the general medical facility can provide care in five specialities, including surgery, anaesthesiology, internal medicine and traumatology. However, there is no funding package from the National Health Service of Ukraine (NHSU) for the surgical speciality for the second half of the year, as the number of operations does not meet the National Health Service’s requirements.

«The National Health Service of Ukraine has requirements regarding the number of operations. There should be 600 major and open abdominal operations per year, but we have a population of 22,000. There is no way we can perform 600 operations. Furthermore, there is a programme for the development of healthcare facilities up to 2036, supported by the World Bank. From 2030, there will be 1,200 operations a year. I think there won’t be any surgery in Voznesensk either, so in future we’ll have to have appendectomies carried out in Mykolaiv,» noted Lilia Huzenko.

She added that the requirements of the National Health Service of Ukraine (NHSU) and donors are strict. Reports must be submitted for every operation.

«We carried out a surgical procedure. We report the operation to the system. The National Health Service of Ukraine monitors the records. If they decide that a particular procedure is missing, the operation is «rejected». That’s it — we won’t be paid for it, and it won’t be included in the statistics,» added the chief physician.

She also drew attention to the emergency care routes and the lack of transport links. Lilia Huzenko noted that emergency care routes will be organised in such a way that people with injuries are taken to other hospitals. In the Voznesensk district, these are the Pivdennoukrainsk and Voznesensk hospitals; in the Pervomaisk district, there is only one in the district centre.

The surgical and gynaecological department at the Domanivka General Hospital. Photo courtesy of the hospital

The surgical and gynaecological department at the Domanivka General Hospital. Photo courtesy of the hospital

The head of the community noted that they cannot specifically bring people to the hospital for operations. For the time being, the hospital will take advantage of the opportunity presented by a rehabilitation project involving partners from Germany.

The committee took note of the information and recommended that the head of the community continue his efforts to keep the hospital open.

At its session on 23 June, the Domanivka Settlement Council amended the budget and approved financial support of 250,000 hryvnias to cover the salaries of staff in the gynaecological and surgical department, funded by a grant from the Mostove territorial community.

Furthermore, on 9 July, the multi-specialist hospital was informed that the Domanivka and Mostivska settlement councils had decided to fund the department for half a year. By 1 January 2027, the town councils will allocate 3.03 million hryvnias: Domanivka — 2.53 million, Mostove — 500,000 hryvnias.

«Thanks to this financial support, our gynaecological and surgical department will remain fully operational until the end of 2026, and will continue to provide the full range of surgical, gynaecological and trauma care free of charge to the residents of the Domanivka and Mostove territorial communities,» the hospital reported.

It should be recalled that in Pivdennoukrainsk, there had been plans to cut the maternity and paediatric wards from September onwards due to the medical facility’s financial difficulties. After the order was circulated on social media, the hospital’s director, Serhii Lupov, commented on the situation himself. He stated that the decision was not linked to the administration’s desire to cut back on medical care, but rather to the consequences of healthcare reform, the demographic situation and the requirements of the National Health Service of Ukraine.

However, the hospital’s director, Serhii Lupov, refused to take part in the work of a specially formed group set up to find ways out of the crisis at the hospital.

On 3 July, the chief medical officer revoked his order to downsize the maternity and paediatric wards.

At the same time, members of the Pivdennoukrainsk City Council did not support an appeal to the central authorities regarding the conditions for implementing healthcare reform and preserving maternity wards in local communities.