Ukraińska służba zdrowia czasu wojny: dylematy i wyzwania

Ukrainian Healthcare in Wartime: Dilemmas and Challenges

Abstract

Ukrainian Healthcare in Wartime: Dilemmas and Challenges is a publication devoted to the problems of the health care sector in Ukraine's difficult period of struggle with Russian aggression. The conflict with a superpower, which the Russian Federation undoubtedly is despite its many imperfections, accumulates enormous problems related to the need to provide healthcare at a basic level, both in the civilian and military dimension. The losses caused by the Russian invasion, which did not spare hospitals, medical centers and other units related to servicing them, contributed to the creation of a serious gap in the Ukrainian healthcare system, which is difficult to fill, especially in the face of the war struggles waged by the young state. After the end of combat operations, Ukrainian decision-makers will have to solve the problems indicated above, which were generated by the dynamics of war, but also to make a bold transformation of the healthcare system, in many of its elements almost building it from scratch. The following article presents most of these issues, although due to the extensive research interests of the author of the publication, it is limited to those that are, in his opinion, key. The author also tries, in addition to the current assessment of events, to outline the prospects for the development of the Ukrainian healthcare service in peacetime. This vision is based on the experience of EU countries, especially the group of new states admitted at the beginning of the 21st century, which the Ukrainian side will probably reach for once the hostilities finally cease.