Doctors in Ukrainian frontline fighting for women’s health

In a rural village near the Ukrainian front, a group of women lined up quietly outside purple and white ambulances, waiting for doctors to dye their shaved heads blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag.

For many of them, this is their first visit to a doctor since the war began three years ago.

Dr. Serhii Baksheiev, 53, has conducted more than 1,000 gynecological examinations on women across the frontline and occupied areas since 2022 and has reviewed in his suite of mobile clinics – called the Women’s Shuttle and equipped with a bright pink inspection chair.

“It’s a humanitarian volunteer mission. It’s for people in need, in places where there is no doctor or hospital, it’s absolutely free.”

The war with Russia has put a lot of pressure on Ukraine’s health care regime, with more than 1,940 attacks on health facilities since the invasion, making it the highest number of any humanitarian crisis to date – a significant increase in attacks since December 2023.

When the war began, Baksheiev, an obstetrician and gynecologist, initially spent some time in a bunker in Kiev, helping to give birth to the baby as the bomb fell.

He said the idea of ​​his clinic came to him after a later medical volunteer mission, as the medical center and hospital were completely destroyed and therefore lacked facilities.

“We went to Kharkif and Cheneshev, which was very damaged and the most difficult thing was the inability to provide gynecological services due to the lack of tools and equipment, because everything was ruined,” he said.

Dr. Baksheiv and his team will have to use any available inspection tables, including the old sofa, which means he has to kneel on the floor for the exam.

Nowadays, walking on electric cars, it is clear that Dr. Bakshiev is very proud of its ability: it has been packed with everything he and his team needed in these remote areas, including ultrasound machines and medical equipment, for secondary surgery.

During the two-day mission, the team was able to perform up to 80 colposcopy—they checked the cervix and vulva for signs of cancer or pre-cancer tissue.

This work is crucial for people living in these remote areas.

His visits to small Russian-occupied villages were usually carried out in secret. He slipped with his team for a day or two, conducted an inspection and left before being found.

Data seen by the Ukrainian Ministry of Public Health and the BBC show that the detection rates of ovarian and cervical cancer have dropped by 17% and 10% respectively since 2020.

When doctors like Dr. Baksheiev did enter these fields for examinations, they found that the incidence of malignant tumors was higher than average.

Dr. Bakshiev said on average, up to 4% of women were diagnosed with malignant tumors after being tested.

Dr. Ulana Supron was the Minister of Health of Ukraine from 2016 to 2019. As the war drags on, the “tick tick worm” on health outcomes is worrying.

“In the public health community, as the war continues, there is certainly concern about what will happen,” she said.

“Not only in terms of physical health, but in terms of mental health – because of the ongoing stress, the ongoing psychological trauma.”

Dr. Supron said the government has managed to partially or completely rebuild 964 damaged medical facilities in Russia.

“They are working closely with whom and other international organizations to try to develop a plan to understand how we can rebuild the health system that has been established before the Russian invasion,” she added.

Despite her cancer diagnosis in September 2024, Dr. Bakshiev continues to volunteer and provide treatment to women across the country.

“In addition to the physical examination, you hear them, because a lot of patients have stories about how Russians attack the villages,” he said.

“So we are not only doctors, but therapists for these patients.”