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Kherson is one of the most striking examples of how the medical system continues to work in challenging conditions. Doctors become a support for entire communities when there is nothing stable nearby: neither security, nor electricity, nor confidence in the future. In frontline cities, every day for doctors is a dozen challenges: mass shelling, mine and explosion injuries, evacuations, shortage of personnel and resources. Despite this, doctors maintain life where it seems impossible to keep it. They save victims in a matter of minutes, support those who have survived injuries and traumas, and become a point of support for people who remain in the city under constant fire.
We discuss the situation in the medical field in frontline Kherson in the new issue of “Conversations about Restoration” with Oleksandr Reznik, a surgeon with over 20 years of experience.
Oleksandr Reznik works at the Municipal establishment "Kherson City Clinical Hospital named after O.S. Luchansky", which provides urgent surgical care to the civilian population of Kherson with wounds, traumas, mine and explosion injuries, domestic accidents, and has also been working as a surgeon at the Municipal establishment "Regional Rehabilitation Hospital" of the Kherson Regional Council for more than 15 years.
The situation with personnel is one of the most painful topics for the medical sector in Kherson today.
“Kherson is seriously short of doctors, especially doctors of narrow specialties. For example, our hospital currently has two neurologists, but there should be at least four to five. There is a shortage of gastroenterologists, pulmonologists, and otolaryngologists. Anesthesiologists are extremely important; however, they are often lacking in many hospitals. As for surgeons, the situation is better, but there are also few vascular surgeons,” says Oleksandr Reznik.
First of all, this is due to the security situation. According to Oleksandr, many particular female specialists left Kherson: "A woman doesn't need reserved occupations. She has children, a family. Most simply couldn't stay under constant shelling."
Approximately 70% of the current population of the city and region consists of older people, or pensioners, who not only require the assistance of volunteers and social workers but also specialized medical treatment. Of the younger ones, mostly those who work at critical enterprises and have reserved occupations, as well as volunteers and employees of state institutions, remained.
We asked Oleksandr how the local authorities currently support the medical sector in Kherson and what could be improved to make it function better: “There are no complaints about the authorities. In every medical institution, underground departments are being created - places where you can not only rest during an alarm, but also treat and operate. They are already operating in most hospitals in the city, and several are nearing completion. But working during an alarm still remains a challenge. When the siren sounds, we evacuate everyone to the basement. It is the most difficult to move those who are lying down. If the patient can already be discharged, we discharge him so as not to expose him to unnecessary danger.”
To slow down the process of doctors' outflow, the authorities want to raise salaries. According to Oleksandr Reznik, this should encourage doctors with extensive experience to remain in the city. After the town was de-occupied, a certain percentage of doctors still returned to their posts. The local authorities aim to attract young specialists to work in Kherson. Still, currently, there are no such benefits for medical workers in the “red zone” as those offered to the police or the State Emergency Service.
Following the deoccupation of the right-bank Kherson region in 2023, public organizations, foundations, and international organizations provided substantial assistance to hospitals, ranging from bottled water, provisions, and personal hygiene products to advanced medical equipment. “In 2024–2025, activity decreased sharply - some organizations closed, some simply stopped coming to Kherson, and funding decreased. There is assistance, but if in 2023 it was every week, then today it is once a month, and even once every two to three months,” says the doctor.
At the same time, some problems cannot be solved only by repairing shelters or providing humanitarian aid. Currently, only two hospitals in Kherson provide 24-hour assistance to civilians who have suffered from mine and blast injuries.
“What worries me in my work, for example, during mass shelling, all the ambulances take the victims to one hospital. For example, 18 wounded from Antonivka - all at the same time to Luchansky Hospital. Or 20 from the Korabelny urban settlement - all to the regional hospital. This is wrong. The world has long had a system of triaging patients during mass events, which allows distributing the load between hospitals and saving more people. The victims are divided into four categories: red - those who require immediate assistance within the first 10 minutes; yellow - those who need help within the next 2 hours; green - those with light injuries, who can wait a day; and black - those who are deceased. We do not use this triaging system.”
The doctor emphasizes that implementing this system in Kherson is extremely important. For its implementation, it is necessary to conduct training for ambulance crews and doctors on triaging patients and providing better quality care.
It should also be noted that there are areas where ambulances cannot arrive due to the security situation; therefore, the police come to the rescue and transport the wounded to hospitals in armored vehicles. Kherson is in dire need of armored ambulances.
Oleksandr Reznik is sure that even ordinary residents of the city should help each other in the current conditions: “What worries me is the disabled, the blind, the helpless people who are left without relatives. They need humanitarian aid. And it would be perfect if ordinary residents of Kherson united with volunteers and helped them”.
Oleksandr Reznik’s vision of the future of Kherson and the region is very optimistic: “I am sure that many people will return. The city will be beautiful and rebuilt again”.
A conversation with surgeon Oleksandr Reznik leaves one with a sense of incredible strength and dedication to his work. Kherson today is about courage. And about people who continue to be in their place, even when they themselves need support.
We invite you to participate in an anonymous survey to help us better understand the moods, needs, and challenges faced by the population of the Kherson region, and to assess the effectiveness of the work of public organizations and authorities. Each of your answers is a crucial brick in the foundation of your future recovery. Your answers are completely anonymous and will be used exclusively in a generalized form for analytical purposes.
The interview has been produced by the Kherson Regional Charitable Foundation “Union” with the support of the European Endowment for Democracy (EED). Its contents do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of EED. Responsibility for the information and views expressed in this publication lies entirely with the authors.
