Doctors at the Cardiac Surgery Center have spoken out against joining Okhmatdit
The separation of the pediatric wing of the Center for Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery and its subsequent merger with the Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital has sparked widespread concern among the medical community.
This was reported by Ukrainian cardiac surgeon Oleksandr Bablyak.
Experts compare this move to the closure of strategic defense programs, as pediatric cardiac surgery for newborns is a matter of national self-sufficiency and the country’s demographic survival.
The problem is that the Center’s success over the past 20 years has been based on separate funding and complete administrative independence.
“Pediatric cardiac surgery is like a transplant program: take the money away from the program, and Ukraine will once again be feeding India and other countries,” note specialists who have worked at the facility since its founding.
The transition to being managed by a general hospital will inevitably lead to a loss of financial autonomy.
Cardiac surgery for newborns requires costs that significantly exceed the standard National Health Service of Ukraine (NSZU) packages in order to operate on every child regardless of their parents’ financial means.
Without a separate budget, doctors will be forced to ask families to cover the cost of expensive medical supplies, which for many will be a death sentence.
Beyond the financial aspect, a unique educational and mentoring infrastructure is at risk. For years, the center has built a network of pediatric cardiologists across the country, providing expert diagnostics as early as the prenatal stage.
The loss of the institution’s integrity will destroy a system that has allowed for more than 2,000 surgeries per year to be performed without delays or waiting lists.
Experienced doctors emphasize that surgery on infants under one year of age is a level that drives the development of many related specialties.
If specialists begin leaving the country due to low salaries and bureaucracy, Ukraine will revert to the practices of the 1990s, when infants had to be transported to Poland or Germany for surgery.
Experts are urging politicians and lawmakers to reconsider the decision to reorganize.
In their view, if the state aims to save money, it would make more sense to cut adult departments—of which there are plenty in the country—but to preserve at all costs the unique children’s center, which was created as an autonomous state initiative.
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