The Kuty municipality in the Ivano-Frankivsk region was awarded a grant and received a modern ambulance. The ambulance for the Kuty City Hospital was handed over by the Representative Office of Médecins du Monde – Greece. Experts of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme helped Kuty municipality prepare the grant application.

Thanks to the signed Memorandum of Cooperation between the Kuty Village Council and Médecins du Monde – Greece, the municipality received an ambulance with all the necessary equipment. It has a portable ultrasound machine, defibrillator, ECG machine, as well as other equipment and medicines.

That is how a mobile medical team, which includes doctors and medical workers from the Kuty City Hospital, started its work in the Kuty municipality.

The idea of creating it came up during one of the consultations for the Kuty municipality, which was held by the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. At the meeting, municipal officials emphasised their commitment to health care as one of the priority directions for development.

According to U-LEAD’s external expert, Ihor Melnychuk, the discussions resulted in the idea of preventive care for patients.

“We considered the option of field visits to the towns and villages of the municipality, so that doctors could examine the residents before they make appointments at healthcare facilities. This approach reduces the burden on the healthcare system, and residents will receive direct benefits with the possibility of receiving certain medical services on-site. We studied this issue, collected necessary statistical information and prepared the project together with the officials of the Kuty municipality,” said Ihor Melnychuk.

A well-drafted project application helped the Kuty Village Council establish cooperation with Médecins du Monde – Greece, which then chose this municipality to participate in the pilot project on the operation of a mobile medical brigade.

According to the terms of the project, in addition to Kuty, the mobile brigade provides services to the neighbouring municipalities upon agreement. The ambulance is used for field visits by a mobile brigade to the residents of the municipality as well as internally displaced persons, including in mountain villages that are far from the hospital.

A detailed route has been developed for the effective work of the brigade, covering residents of the municipality to the greatest extent possible. The mobile medical team makes 2-3 visits each week to the primary health centres in the villages.

Doctors serve an average of 50-60 patients of various ages during one visit. The team always includes a sonologist, an ENT doctor, a physician, a surgeon or a neurologist, as well as medical professionals of other profiles.

“Our city hospital is located in Kuty, so sometimes older people or those living in mountainous areas have certain difficulties with transport to visit a healthcare facility. That is why we decided to create a mobile team of doctors who will go to the populated areas of the municipality. We had such a need, so we worked on its solution. The support of the experts of U-LEAD with Europe, who helped us, shared their experience and provided advice for the project, is very important for us. We are happy about our cooperation, which has been useful and fruitful,” said Dmytro Pavlyuk, Head of the Kuty Village Council.