TNMU Student Vitalii Hakalo Becomes a Laureate of the “Person of the Year 2025” Award

The jury of the well-known regional competition “Person of the Year” in the Ternopil region announced the winners for 2025. The honorary title was awarded to Vitalii Hakalo, a student of Ternopil National Medical University. The competition was established in 2001 by the sports, arts, and spiritual center “My Ukraine” and the editorial board of the socio-political newspaper “Vilne Zhyttia”.

From 2016 to 2020, Vitalii Hakalo studied at the Kremenets Medical College.

Since 2020, he has worked as an emergency medical paramedic at the Municipal Non-Profit Enterprise “Center for Emergency Medical Care and Disaster Medicine” at Ternopil Substation No. 3.

In May 2022, he accompanied emergency medical teams to Azovstal to evacuate the wounded; however, the operation was disrupted by the Russian side.

In 2022, he enrolled in the second year of study at Ternopil National Medical University, majoring in Medicine.

On November 26, 2022, he went to the war zone in the Donetsk region, where he took part in combat operations in Chasiv Yar, Bakhmut, Soledar, and in the Lyman direction.

In 2023, the main focus of military operations was the Lyman direction.
In 2024, he participated in the battles for Pokrovsk and its surroundings.
In 2025, he was involved in combat operations in the Pokrovsk and Kursk directions.

His medical service began with work in a resuscitation team, whose main task was transporting severely wounded patients from the stabilization point in Bakhmut to the hospital in Druzhkivka. Later, he worked at a stabilization point in Lyman and subsequently participated in medical and case evacuations. He gained extensive experience in performing surgical and anesthesiological procedures, including independently carrying out limb amputations, metal osteosynthesis, and applying external fixation devices for limb fractures. He also participated in the treatment of severe thoracoabdominal injuries and open traumatic brain injuries.

In October 2025, he signed a contract and joined the 67th Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The University is proud of its student, who demonstrates a high level of patriotism and conscientiously fulfills his civic duty to defend Ukraine.