Polish ophthalmologists respond to Kharkiv doctors’ appeal

The operating microscope is an indispensable tool in ophthalmic surgery. It allows for accurate performance of eye surgery. The Society of Ophthalmic Surgeons of Poland (SCOP) was approached by Ukrainian doctors from the Military Hospital of the Northern Region of the city of Kharkiv for help in obtaining such equipment.

A team of ophthalmologists from the Kharkiv military hospital has been working on the front line of defense against Russian aggression since the beginning of the war. It provides professional medical care to military personnel and the civilian population of the northern region. It performs specialized procedures in ophthalmic surgery. The operating microscope used to perform surgeries by the doctors stopped working due to overuse. Ophthalmologists have appealed to the international medical community for help in obtaining the device, which is necessary for anterior and posterior eye surgery.

With such a request, Dr. Marina Gupanova, an ophthalmologist and employee of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the Military Hospital of the Northern Region of the city of Kharkiv, turned to the Society of Ophthalmic Surgeons of Poland. For more than three years since the outbreak of war, SCOP has been providing very intensive support to Ukrainian ophthalmologists in solidarity with the professional community in this extremely dramatic situation for them. This assistance takes various forms.

We organize specialized training for doctors at our university center in Lublin, we conduct online and on-site educational courses, and we also jointly participate in conventions of ophthalmologists exchanging knowledge and experience, informs Prof. Robert Rejdak, head of the University’s Department of General and Pediatric Ophthalmology in Lublin and president of the Society of Ophthalmic Surgeons of Poland. – We operate on war victims with eye injuries at our clinic, and as part of SCOP’s activities, we initiate collections of ophthalmic equipment, medical apparatus, dressing materials and medicines and deliver these donations to ophthalmologists in Ukraine. Recently, we were approached by Dr. Marina Gupanova of the Kharkiv Northern Region Military Hospital for help in donating an operating microscope. The cost of such a device is about 500 thousand zlotys, so we will appeal to businesses and pharmaceutical companies to donate to the sub-account, the number of which we will soon post on the SCOP website.

In a request to SCOP, Dr. Marina Gupanova wrote, among other things, “ We have the status of the Central Clinical Hospital of the Northern Region in Kharkiv. We mainly serve soldiers, fighting at the front and military personnel, but also military retirees and civilians in emergencies. About 100 patients per month can be operated on using the microscope. The ability to see can be regained and preserved by 3 to 5 people per day. Without the right equipment, we can’t deal effectively with the injured. Currently, the ophthalmology department has a military eye surgeon, as well as 2 civilian eye surgeons qualified to work with such equipment.

If we acquire an operating microscope for anterior and posterior eye procedures, we will be able to perform almost all operations to save the eye and restore visual function. This equipment will be installed in a windowless room, which is also reinforced with additional metal guards to protect it from damage in case the hospital is bombed. Without professional equipment, we are unable to provide highly qualified assistance to Ukrainian citizens.
It breaks our hearts and souls that despite having the skills in eye microsurgery, we are unable to provide full assistance to these heroic people due to lack of equipment. We further expose them to loss of sight and disability. We turn to you with hope and understanding of our situation, to all who have respect and a sense of humanity, to ask you to give us such help in obtaining the necessary equipment.

Prof. Robert Rejdak hopes that the needed sum for the purchase of an operating microscope for the Kharkiv military hospital can be raised at SCOP before the Ophthalmology Congress. The congress, “Novelties in Ophthalmology, Education and Practice,” will be held in Lublin on February 14 and 15 this year. A number of Ukrainian delegates will participate in the Polish-Ukrainian sessions. The equipment they are so eagerly awaiting would be a great reward for patients and the brave doctors who save their eyesight with great dedication. In addition to helping purchase the microscope, the SCOP president offered doctors from the Kharkiv military hospital department the opportunity for training in eye surgery.
Jolanta Czudak