Hospital Partnerships in Ukraine

In addition to acute care, Ukrainian soldiers and civilians injured by the Russian war of aggression also need rehabilitative care. In order to build up the necessary capacities, Ukrainian doctors as well as physiotherapists and occupational therapists are visiting German hospitals to learn about treatment standards. The focus here is on amputations and hand injuries.

The continuous medical training and further education in line with the needs of the Ukrainian partner institutions is usefully supplemented by the acquisition of rehabilitation medical equipment. In the short and long term, the exchange of medical specialists in the field of rehabilitation medicine will be strengthened by the newly formed Ukraine-wide network.

Participating institutions:

• BG Kliniken
• Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
• Medizinische Hochschule Hannover
• Moldova Institut Leipzig e.V.
• Superhumans Center in Lviv
• Ukrainian Ministry of Health

As part of the Hospital Partnership, Ukrainian doctors and surgical nurses take part in further training and work shadowing in the fields of trauma surgery, intensive care medicine and mental health at Charité in Berlin. The procurement of necessary equipment for the Unbroken Rehabilitation Clinic in Lviv further strengthens patient care in Ukraine while an existing cooperation in the field of telemedicine is also in the process of expansion.

Participating institutions:

• Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
• Hospital network First Medical Union
• Unbroken National Rehabilitation Centre in Lviv

Millions of Ukrainians are at acute risk of developing anxiety disorders, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. In addition, there are people who were already mentally ill before the war began and are currently not receiving adequate therapeutic support. The COGITO app offers low-threshold and short-term help for people with mental health problems. In addition, Ukrainian multipliers are being trained with the help of e-learning material so that they can be used in the treatment of depression.

Participating institutions:

• Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE)
• Odessa Regional Medical Centre of Mental Health

LVR-Klinik Langenfeld and Kulparkov Hospital have been cooperating for a long time. The latter is the only hospital in the Lviv district that specializes in mental illness. However, it is difficult for the rural population to reach. The hospital partnership is therefore working on setting up decentralized hospital branches so that residents in rural areas around Lviv can also receive mental health care. The project is also doing educational work to destigmatize mental illness.

Participating institutions:

• Lviv Regional Clinical Psychiatric Hospital (Kulparkov Hospital)
• LVR-Klinik Langenfeld

As a result of the Russian war of aggression, many Ukrainian citizens suffer serious physical injuries. Adequate rehabilitative treatment is required to enable the physically and therefore also psychologically affected individuals to reintegrate into an active lifestyle. With this project, the partnership between Charité, the BG Kliniken and the First Medical Union of Lviv addresses the need to expand rehabilitation capacities. The cooperation is in close exchange with the clinic partnerships SOLOMIYA and AURORA and complements their objectives.

Participating institutions:

• Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
• BG Kliniken Frankfurt (Main)
• First Medical Union of Lviv

As part of this comprehensive cooperation, multipliers from Ukrainian civil society are trained in first aid and provided with first aid kits. The participants ensure that this knowledge is transferred to their communities and hometowns so that the population there can provide qualified first aid. Another focus of the project is the coordinated and rapid transfer of seriously injured patients within Ukraine.

Participating institutions:

• Arbeitsgemeinschaft Notfallmedizin Fürth e.V.
• Swiss Foundation for Innovation (SFI)
• Lviv Ecological Foundation (LEF)
• Special Training Centre (STC) Kyiv

Until the beginning of the war, sick children's hearts could only be treated in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Now, with the help of a German-Ukrainian hospital partnership, a pediatric cardiology ward has also been set up in Lviv and new, improved practices have been taught. The appropriate equipment has been purchased for the two clinics involved in the project. As a result, children with heart disease will receive the care they need in the clinic, which has been set up as a new heart center in the west of Ukraine for the long term.

Participating institutions:

• Deutsches Herzzentrum München (DHM)
• Regional Children's Hospital Lviv „Ohmatdyt"
• St. Nicolas Children’s Hospital
• H.O.P.E. - we help children e.V.

Infectious diseases are currently one of the greatest health risks in Ukraine. In Poltava, which is close to the front, the diagnosis and treatment of chronic transmissible infections has already been reduced to a minimum in order to free up capacity for war trauma. Therefore, a concept for improved diagnostics of infectious diseases is being developed as part of the hospital partnership, which is specifically tailored to the needs in Poltava. The two sites in Poltava will also receive necessary equipment and the medical staff will be trained in diagnostic procedures for infectious diseases.

Participating institutions:

• Institute für Virologie und für Mikrobiologie der Universitätsmedizin Essen
• Poltava State Medical University (PSMU)
• Regional Hospital for Infectious Diseases Poltawa

Due to the Russian war of aggression, the number of war casualties requiring treatment in hospitals is increasing. This is leading to supply bottlenecks for essential medicines such as antibiotics. For this reason, the association Pharmacists Without Borders organized the transport of life-saving medicines to the Mechnikov Hospital in Dnipro in October 2022.

Participating institutions:

• Apotheker ohne Grenzen e.V.
• Mechnikov Hospital

Many medical institutions were destroyed during the Russian war of aggression. Mobility is also severely restricted. However, well-trained medical staff are now more important than ever. In this project, Hospital Partnerships are therefore focusing on the implementation of high-quality medical training and further education. To this end, a digital clinic partnership hub is being set up, which contains online learning material in various languages on relevant medical topics. This will enable Ukrainian students and doctors to continue their professional training in the future.

Participating institutions:

• Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
• BG-Kliniken Frankfurt (Main)/Ludwigshafen/Berlin
• Ministry of Health Ukraine
• Medical University Charkiv
• Sheptyskyi Hospital

In Ukraine, many parents do not have their children's hearing checked until they are between two and four years old. However, treatment options are already severely limited at this stage. Hospital Partnerships are therefore setting up a counseling hotline for parents to provide information about hearing impairments and present solutions. In four maternity clinics in the Kyiv region, the project participants are also working on a standardized program for newborn hearing screenings. They are also training medical staff on how to work with the screening devices and how to intervene early in the event of hearing impairment.

Participating institutions:

• Rehabilitation center for medical hearing AURORA (MC AURORA)
• Lehnhardt-Stiftung

Metabolic disorders are a common cause of hereditary diseases in newborns. In order to be able to treat these well in good time, newborns must undergo next-generation sequencing (NGS) screening. An interdisciplinary team of experts from human genetics, gynecology, obstetrics and pediatrics at Hannover Medical School (MHH) is now working on equipping the partner clinics in Lviv with NGS screening devices. In addition, training courses on NGS screening and the treatment of metabolic diseases are to be held.

Participating institutions:

• „Gene Expression and Signaling“ at the Institute of Cell Biochemistry at MHH
• Clinic for Pediatric Kidney, Liver and Metabolic Diseases and Neuropediatrics at MHH
• Regional Clinical Perinatal Center of the MHH
• Regional center for the screening of newborns in Lviv

As a consequence of the Russian war of aggression, more and more people in Ukraine are suffering from chronic pain. As a result, the need for adequate diagnostics and treatment is rising rapidly. In order to enable Ukrainian doctors in pain therapy centers to adequately address chronic pain disorders and multiple mental illnesses, they are taking part in train-the-trainer workshops as part of this clinic partnership project. To ensure that diagnoses and treatments are standardized, a practice guideline is created and data on the course of the patients' illnesses is collected.

Participating institutions:

• Benjamin Franklin Pain and Palliative Care Center of the Charité
• Department of Pain Medicine der Universität von Vinnitsa

The Russian war of aggression has resulted in many Ukrainian war casualties. It is often necessary to amputate limbs or treat orthopaedic injuries. As a result of these operations, many patients suffer from psychological or psychosomatic complaints, for the treatment of which there are hardly any rehabilitation clinics in Ukraine. The Hospital Partnerships project is helping the hospital in Poltava to set up a modern rehabilitation center. Among other things, it is equipping the clinic with new rehabilitation training equipment and organizing training courses for clinic staff on evidence-based patient care.

Participating institutions:

• Altmühlseeklinik Hensoltshöhe
• Organisation "Hospital fund for the Poltava region"
• Regional Hopsital Poltava

Around 40 Ukrainian institutions and five German healthcare institutions are working together in this partnership to strengthen healthcare services in Ukraine in the areas of mental health, trauma and emergency medicine. The project is coordinated by Charité in Berlin. At workshops and training sessions, medical professionals expand their skills in areas such as psychological first aid, burnout prevention and women's health. Trauma training courses, which take place two to three times a year, and telemedicine services complement the exchange of knowledge. The focus is on topics such as amputation, burns, crush injuries and optimal prosthesis care. Last but not least, SOLOMIYA also offers apps and an e-learning hub with training content and supplies Ukrainian clinics with medicines and medical supplies.

Beteiligte Institutionen:

• Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BG-Kliniken Frankfurt, ZI Mannheim, LMU München, TU Dresden, Universität Greifswald, Uni Konstanz/Vivo e.V.
• 39 Partner Hospitals in Ukraine | Ministry of Health of Ukraine, Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine, Bogomolets National Medical University, Kharkiv National Medical University, Institute of Mental Health of Catholic University Lviv, Ukrainian Institute of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Lviv, St. Nicolas Children’s Hospital

Inefficiency, insufficient financial resources and corrupt structures are putting a strain on the Ukrainian healthcare system. In addition, more and more underpaid medical professionals are migrating to the EU due to the opening of the labor market. At the same time, the Russian war of aggression means that there is an even greater need for specialist staff to provide mental health care for traumatized soldiers and internally displaced persons. In order to support the Sheptyskyi Hospital in this dramatic situation, the hospital partnership project is training Ukrainian nursing staff in trauma treatment. The hospital is also receiving advice on quality management.

Participating institutions:

• Sheptytsky Hospital
• Evangelische Lukas-Stiftung Altenburg

Instruments for operating on heart disease are currently hard to come by on the Ukrainian market. However, the Oleksandrivska Hospital in Kiev urgently needs the surgical instruments to treat cardiac emergencies. The power supply often cannot be maintained either. The hospital partnership project is therefore supplying the Kiev hospital with medical equipment and generators to ensure a reliable power supply. There are also plans to train medical, technical and nursing staff in the treatment of heart disease and to set up a Ukrainian-German expert board for the exchange of knowledge and experience.

Beteiligte Institutionen:

• Pius Hospital Oldenburg
• University Hosiptal für Heart Surgery at Klinikum Oldenburg
• Association „Christliche medizinische Hilfe direkt“
• Oleksandrivska Hospital in Kyiv