MAKIIVKA, August 22 (RIA Novosti) - Hospitals in the conflict-torn regions of southeastern Ukraine are struggling to stay open as payments stop and medical supplies run short.
August 13 began like any other summer day in the city of Zuhres in Ukraine’s Donetsk Region, with locals gathering at a beach by the reservoir to cool off and spend time with friends and family.
“We were swimming in a pond when we heard the sound of an aircraft. “Fall, lay down!” someone shouted. I was in the water at that time. I got scared and ran toward my mother. All the children started running out of the water. Then, a cluster bomb exploded right on the beach,” 15-year-old Yanina told RIA Novosti.
Possibly aiming for a thermal power station located nearby, Ukrainian Special Forces hit the crowded beach in an airstrike, killing 14 people, including two children. Another boy died the next day. A family of three – father, mother and child – were among the victims. In another family, the father was the only victim, as he covered his loved ones with his own body and saved their lives.
Nineteen people were hurt, including Yanina. With her at the beach were her mother and sisters, who managed to avoid the explosion. Unhurt beachgoers rushed to help the girl and others who were injured. A taxi driver brought the girl to the hospital. At first, Yanina was treated in Zuhres, but was later transferred to a children’s clinic in neighboring Makiivka.
“The girl has injuries on the entire right side of her body, including her jaw, shoulder and arm. Her thigh was covered in splinters,” said traumatologist Ivan Kravchuk, who is treating the teenager.
Ukrainian media and authorities blame attacks like the one in Zuhres on the militia, choosing to ignore the fact that many strikes hit targets near the independence supporters’ own checkpoints, and that the trajectory of projectiles shows them to be fired by Ukrainian Security Forces.
Civilians in Olenivka and Kurakhovo report sightings of the Ukrainian Army’s Grad rocket launchers. Grads are used by both the army and the eastern Ukraine's people's militia, making it possible to argue the origin of strikes coming from the vehicles. However, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are the only side in possession of military aircraft, making the origin of airstrikes, like the one in Zuhres, undoubtable.
Yanina’s doctor promises her a nearly full, but lengthy recovery. “She could have some problems with her hand in the future,” the doctor said. The girl’s broken arm is currently being treated with traction and will remain in a fixed position for the next month. Yanina recently finished the 9th grade and was planning to apply for a specialized secondary school this summer, but will now miss the entrance exams and the beginning of the next school year.
Her grandmother, Raisa Nikolaevna Demina, questions the actions of Ukraine’s new leader. “Why do [the children] have to suffer? Our fathers built this country, why are we now being bombed? Can Poroshenko sleep at night?” the grandmother asks.
Yanina’s family has to bring her food to the hospital, Demina says.
“Our daily funding is three hryvnia (about 8.5 rubles or $0.23) per patient. Of course, that’s not enough to feed a child,” Chief Physician Lyudmila Maltseva explained.
Fortunately, the hospital receives help from parents and sponsors. “On Saturday, we were given 8,000 hryvnias worth of food,” Maltseva said.
The situation is far worse when it comes to medicine. Old supplies are being used up and new deliveries are yet to come. Yanina has been lucky, as local parliamentarians from the New Russia Party have helped her out.
Raisa Nikolayevna, who worked as a metallurgist for most of her life, says that she hasn’t received her pension in two months. Yanina’s mother, Anna, who has four other children, hasn’t received her child benefits either.
Medical workers in the region no longer receive their salaries. A doctor used to earn 1,400 hryvnias (about 3,900 rubles or $107) per month. Now, even this modest amount is not being paid. Kiev has stopped all transfers to residents of eastern regions of Ukraine, including pensions, child benefits and public sector wages.
According to Maltseva, nearly half of the 639 doctors working in Makiivka’s children’s clinics recently left on vacation, about 40 resigned.
“I don’t have any money to pay for bus tickets. It takes an hour to walk here from my home,” a nurse named Natalia said. The nurse said she sometimes spends the night at the hospital after a long day of work.
Collectors from the bank where Natalia took a loan for her son’s wedding are demanding their money back, with no interest in why she has been unable to pay lately, she says.
“They contact me from Kiev, calling me names, saying that all people here are separatists. What have I done to deserve this? I’ve been an honest worker all my life, it’s not my fault we’ve stopped receiving our salaries,” the nurse said, crying.
Despite the difficult situation, many hospital workers don’t want to leave their homes and patients behind. “We don’t want to leave this place. This is my land, why should I be leaving? I don’t want to live elsewhere with refugee status,” Natalia’s colleague Vera Nikolayevna said.
