Surgery by headlamp: Ukrainian doctors visit Fort Worth in the midst of war
Five cancer doctors from Ukraine are visiting Fort Worth this week, hoping to learn from their American colleagues.
“The American health care system is one of the best in the world,” said Dr. Anna Veskera, a general surgery resident at Lviv Cancer Center. “I want to explore it.”
The doctors are visiting from the city of Lviv, in the western part of the country, far from the frontlines of the war, Veskera said. But even still, the doctors are grappling with the impacts of the conflict, mainly through power outages that leave their hospital in darkness.
One physician, Dr. Oleg Duda, described performing surgery by headlamp in the middle of a blackout. He said he heard explosions nearby and then, minutes later, the lights went out as he was in the middle of a complicated surgery.
The war has devastated parts of Ukraine’s medical infrastructure. By one estimate, there have been 2,078 attacks on Ukraine’s health care system since Feb. 24, 2022. More than 1,000 of those attacks have destroyed hospitals and clinics. Nearly 300 health workers have been killed, according to a map from the group Physicians for Human Rights.
“We live with stress,” said Dr. Maksym Sabadash, a urologic oncologist. “Stress is our usual life. It’s not good for medicine because you see very nervous, stressed people, and you must work with these people.”
One study in Ukraine found that nearly half of 522 cancer patients surveyed waited more than one month to start treatment, Duda said, many of them waiting because of the war.
While in the U.S., the doctors are visiting the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders in Fort Worth, where they are meeting with American physicians. The physicians are staying in Fort Worth for 16 days, during which they’ll travel through DFW to visit doctors’ offices and hospitals.
“We deeply admire the resilience of Ukrainian physicians caring for their patients amid a war taking place within their own borders,” said Dr. Bibas Reddy, president at the Center. “We hope to share best practices and lessons from U.S. community oncology that can help support patient care during this conflict and as Ukrainians rebuild their medical infrastructure.”
“One day soon, hopefully, when Ukraine is free, secure and in peace, we can come to Ukraine and we can continue to share knowledge,” Reddy said.
Rostyslav Semikov, who helped facilitate the trip, said the goal was for the Ukrainian doctors to be immersed in best practices.
“We’re trying to build this chemistry and introductions by bringing the best people from Ukraine and the best people from the U.S.,” Semikov said.
