TNMU Held a Series of Pre-Hospital Care Courses Supported by SAFEMed Project from American Agency for International Development USAID

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, TNMU has been training civilians, members of the national police and the State Emergency Service (SES), and the Territorial Defence Forces (TDF) for pre-hospital care skills.

The first course “Pre-hospital care for victims of hostilities / martial law” (5 hours) developed jointly with the State Institution “Ukrainian Scientific and Practical Centre for Emergency Care and Disaster Medicine of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine” according to original program at TNMU took place on February 27, 2022. This program included key moments in saving the lives of civilians who got under enemy fire. After completion, it was included in the list of procedures for providing pre-hospital care to persons in emergency situations, approved by the Order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine on March 09, 2022 № 441 (registered in the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on March 28, 2022 for № 356/37692). About 1,300 citizens were trained on a volunteer basis at the request of the Ternopil City Council and at the request of numerous citizens and temporarily displaced persons.

Realizing the importance and urgent need to teach the citizens of our country the basics of pre-hospital care in hostilities, we were significantly supported by the project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) SAFEMed “Safe, affordable and effective medicines for Ukrainians”.                        

With the support of SAFEMed and with the assistance of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, 725 members of the National Police, 32 SES officers and 243 civilians of the city and Ternopil region were trained in pre-hospital care during the last month and received certificates.

Consumables (tourniquets, bandages, stretchers, etc.), simulators (for wound tamponing, airway patency, thoracopuncture, tracheotomy) for more than half a million hryvnias, purchased through USAID and SAFEMed, will provide quality training in these vital skills under martial law.

The project was implemented by teachers of the Department of Disaster and Military Medicine, who are professional instructors of the European and All-Ukrainian Resuscitation Council. The training is held on the basis of the Centre for Medical Simulation “TESIMED”, which in Ukraine is a leader in the implementation of simulation teaching methods in medicine. The courses were extremely highly assessed by the students who gained knowledge on how to save their own lives and the lives of others under the conditions of hostilities.

We express our appreciation to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the SAFEMed team, the Ministry of Health for supporting our initiative, and keep up the good work.

The information was provided by Professor Arsen Hudyma.