Surgeons work by flashlight as Ukraine power grid battered
World
Surgeons work by flashlight as Ukraine power grid battered
KHERSON, Ukraine (AP) — Dr. Oleh Duda, a cancer surgeon at a hospital in Lviv, Ukraine, was in the middle of a complicated, dangerous surgery when he heard explosions nearby. Moments later, the lights went out.
Duda had no choice but to keep working with only a headlamp for light. The lights came back when a generator kicked in three minutes later, but it felt like an eternity.
“These fateful minutes could have cost the patient his life,” Duda told The Associated Press.
The operation on a major artery took place Nov. 15, when the city in western Ukraine suffered blackouts as Russia unleashed yet another missile barrage on Ukraine’s power grid, damaging nearly 50% of the country’s energy facilities.
The devastating strikes, which continued last week and plunged the country into darkness once again, strained and disrupted the health care system, already battered by years of corruption, mismanagement, the COVID-19 pandemic and nine months of war.
Scheduled operations are being postponed; patient records are unavailable because of internet outages; and paramedics have had to use flashlights to examine patients in darkened apartments.
The World Health Organization said last week that Ukraine’s health system is facing “its darkest days in the war so far,” amid the growing energy crisis, the onset of cold winter weather and other challenges.
KHERSON, Ukraine (AP) — Dr. Oleh Duda, a cancer surgeon at a hospital in Lviv, Ukraine, was in the middle of a complicated, dangerous surgery when he heard explosions nearby. Moments later, the lights went out.
Duda had no choice but to keep working with only a headlamp for light. The lights came back when a generator kicked in three minutes later, but it felt like an eternity.
“These fateful minutes could have cost the patient his life,” Duda told The Associated Press.
The operation on a major artery took place Nov. 15, when the city in western Ukraine suffered blackouts as Russia unleashed yet another missile barrage on Ukraine’s power grid, damaging nearly 50% of the country’s energy facilities.
The devastating strikes, which continued last week and plunged the country into darkness once again, strained and disrupted the health care system, already battered by years of corruption, mismanagement, the COVID-19 pandemic and nine months of war.
Scheduled operations are being postponed; patient records are unavailable because of internet outages; and paramedics have had to use flashlights to examine patients in darkened apartments.
The World Health Organization said last week that Ukraine’s health system is facing “its darkest days in the war so far,” amid the growing energy crisis, the onset of cold winter weather and other challenges.
