MOBILE HEALTH UNIT

MOBILE HEALTH UNIT

Mobile health units of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society are the teams, that help the primary healthcare system in provision of qualitative primary medical care to Ukrainian people in the conditions of war and other humanitarian challenges. They provide aid where it is most needed, even in the most remote areas of the country.

The main task of the MHU is to strengthen the primary medical facilities by providing qualified medical services to the local population in various remote regions of Ukraine and to numerous internally displaced persons who suffered from military operations.

Mobile Health Units were created in 2015 to provide medical assistance to people who lived in the areas, most affected by the fighting, and had limited access to medical services. After the start of a full-scale military invasion in 2022, the Ukrainian Red Cross Society, together with international partner organizations, quickly deployed more than 120 mobile health units across the country.

Currently, mobile health units are operating in:
  • Lviv region;
  • Zakarpattja region;
  • Ivano-Frankivsk region;
  • Ternopil region;
  • Rivne region;
  • Khmelnytskyi region;
  • Chernivtsi region;
  • Zhytomyr region;
  • Vinnytsia region;
  • Kyiv region;
  • Chernihiv region;
  • Poltava region;
  • Sumy region;
  • Kharkiv region;
  • Cherkasy region;
  • Kropyvnytskyi region;
  • Odesa region;
  • Mykolaiv region;
  • Zaporizhzhia region;
  • Dnipro region;
  • Kherson region;
  • Donetsk region.

The Ukrainian Red Cross Society involves family doctors, feldshers, nurses and drivers of the Red Cross vehicles to work as part of the Mobile Health Unit. With this composition, Mobile Health Units directly interact with medical workers of territorial centers of primary medicine. The schedules and itineraries of MHUs are formed with the joint participation of employees of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society and medical institutions in accordance with the requests and current needs of communities. Employees of rural ambulatories and feldsher points inform citizens in advance about the day and time of the MHU arrival.

The visits usually take place five times a week, and in each settlement, they assist those in need. The family doctor examines patients, measures blood pressure, glucose, and blood oxygen levels. If necessary, the doctor provides primary medical care to patients on the spot or refers them to specialists for specialized consultation.

The patients’ checkup is carried out in rural first aid/midwifery centers or in other temporarily equipped premises, and sometimes – directly in a vehicle if there is no other possibility.

Mobile Health Units of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society are not a regular medical service. They are temporary operational assistance to the state in overcoming the humanitarian problems of local communities, and helping all those who need it.