MSF medical teams perform over 1,000 operations on patients in frontline territories in 2024
In 2024, medical teams of the international organization "Doctors Without Borders" (MSF) performed 1,149 operations on patients in frontline territories, provided support to 435 patients in intensive care units.
As reported to Interfax-Ukraine by MSF, the organization's medical teams are currently continuing to provide medical assistance to Ukrainians suffering from the war.
In Donetsk region, MSF teams, particularly provide assistance to patients who were unable to receive it due to constant shelling. For example, the other day, in one of the hospitals near the frontline, doctors operated on a patient with neglected Fournier's gangrene, who could not receive assistance earlier due to shelling.
"Such patients with neglected diseases are a common occurrence in this hospital. It is the closest to the eastern front line and provides secondary medical care. The healthcare facility is located at the intersection of three regions where active fighting is taking place, and from where a large flow of people seeking medical care comes," MSF said.
MSF doctors support the emergency department and operating room, and the surgical team provides emergency care to patients who need examination by highly qualified surgeons in hospitals located further from the frontline.
"People come here from frontline settlements in Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia regions, where shelling does not stop for a day. Patients often do not have access to medicine and medical care, food and hygiene products, spending most of their time hiding in the basements of their homes," MSF said.
The organization said the most intense fighting continues in Donetsk region, where the frontline remains unstable and rapidly moving, with the hottest spots near Pokrovsk, Kurakhove and Chasiv Yar.
"Hospitals in these areas have been forced to evacuate their medical staff and equipment, forcing residents to travel long distances to reach the nearest medical facility. As a result, many people delay seeking medical attention and their condition worsens," MSF said.
Surgeon and MSF Medical Operations Manager Khassan El-Kafarna notes "people have limited access to medical care, and we see how this affects them. Many patients have exacerbations of non-communicable diseases: hypertensive crises, strokes, advanced surgical diseases."
"People have limited access to healthcare and we are seeing how this is affecting them. Many patients are suffering from exacerbations of non-communicable diseases: hypertensive crises, strokes, advanced surgical diseases."
In addition, MSF doctors in frontline areas are dealing with patients with war-related injuries, who are injured by shelling, landmines, bomb explosions and shrapnel.
"These people often have multiple injuries to different parts of the body, including head injuries, penetrating wounds to the abdomen and chest, and soft tissue injuries. Many of the patients we see have open fractures. We deal with infected wounds. Patients have been unable to receive care for a long time and come to us in the late stages of sepsis. Over the past month, we have operated on seven patients with septic complications," El-Kafarna said.
