Medical and Sanitary Service of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army
The teachers of the Department of Physiology, Fundamentals of Bioethics and Biosafety of I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University and the curators of the 2nd year students of the Faculty of Medicine visited the exhibition of the UPA at the Ternopil Regional Museum of Local Lore. Professor Vadziuk S.N., the Head of the Department, introduced local historian Volodymyr Pukach, the organizer of the exhibition, to the students; he told the history of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, its health care system.
According to Volodymyr Pukach, the UPA army had its own medical structure, which provided medical care to soldiers: treated the wounded and cared for the sick. Doctors worked in two directions. Some medics attached to UPA units provided first aid to the wounded during hostilities, often taking them out of the shelling. Other doctors worked at the district underground hospitals, where the seriously wounded, including civilians, were treated.
Professor Vadziuk S.N., Head of the department, Assistant Professor Liebiedieva T.A., Local Historian V. Pukach and 2nd-year students of the Faculty Medicine
One of the most important problems of the Medical Service was the personnel issue, which was solved in different ways. Kateryna Zarytska, the head of the Ukrainian Red Cross, set up a medical and sanitary service of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and headed it (pseudonym Moneta). From March 1945, she served as the personal liaison of UPA Commander-in-Chief Roman Shukhevych. Halyna Didyk continued to manage the medical and sanitary service.
It should also be noted that legally practicing physicians who cooperated with the Ukrainian underground contributed greatly to the Medical Services: Matvii Lotovych, Yurii Lypa, Toma Vorobets, Dmytro Kaptan, Vasyl Sefurak, Maksym Tymkiv, Andrii Chekhovskyi and others. Matvii Lotovych was Shukhevych’s personal doctor. There were also doctors of other nationalities in the Sanitary Guard who sympathized and actively helped the UPA soldiers, mostly Jews: Abraham Sterzer, Samuel Naiman, Warm Shai Davydovych; Germans: Wilhelm Welnicke, Helmut Krause; Poles: Sikorska; Georgians. Many doctors were imprisoned by NKVD.
Due to the specifics of their activities, employees of the Ukrainian Red Cross were forced to spend most of their time in underground premises: hideouts (“hospitals’) and bunkers. The hideout did not have a standard form – it all depended on the ingenuity of the insurgents who were engaged in its arrangement. 1-2 doctors and 2-3 nurses worked in them. Most often they were built underground. The medical unit consisted of a room with 10-15 beds, a kitchen and an office. Some hideouts were used to store medicines, sanitary material, food, and weapons. “Hospitals” were also organized in houses and outbuildings of the local population.
Conspiracy, ventilation, and equipment were considered in the design of underground storage facilities. Also, one of the important requirements for the hiding place was to supply it with water. Therefore, they tried to build near streams, from which water was delivered in various ways. Sometimes they were lucky enough to come across an underground spring, which was of great value for the bathroom. In winter they melted the snow. The hospitals were not easy to light and heat. One can only guess all the efforts made by doctors to perform surgeries, dressings, and order medications in such settings.
Prepared by Assistant Professor Kashchak T.V., responsible for educational work