Russian News
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Ukraine's psychiatric care on the brink in face of mass trauma
Ukraine's psychiatric care on the brink in face of mass trauma
By Romain COLAS
Poltava, Ukraine (AFP) April 14, 2025

When Russian drones and missiles pierce the skies above Ukraine at night and air defence begins to thunder, Olga Klimova plunges into a deep sleep -- far from her stay in a crowded psychiatric ward.

"I take my pills, I sleep deeply, I don't hear anything," the 44-year-old said, her giggle exposing missing teeth.

In her dreams, Klimova sees her village: Kyselivka in the southern Kherson region.

She lived several months under Russian occupation in 2022, before Kyiv's forces retook Kherson.

Suffering from schizophrenia, Klimova was then evacuated hundreds of kilometres (miles) northwards, to a hospital in the central city of Poltava.

She has since been a patient in the Poltava Regional Psychiatric Hospital.

Klimova has not heard from her relatives back home -- many of them elderly -- since the start of the conflict.

"They know I am in Poltava. I am waiting for the end of the war to see them," she told AFP.

- New patients -

Kyiv has evacuated thousands of patients from psychiatric wards during the war, according to doctors AFP spoke to.

On top of existing patients, the fighting and devastation also generated a massive mental health crisis -- both among the military and civilian population.

The World Health Organization estimates that some 9.6 million Ukrainians are at risk of, or live with, a mental health problem -- almost a quarter of the country's pre-war population.

Already underfunded and depleted before 2022, the state psychiatric system is barely coping.

Oles Telyukov, a doctor at the main psychiatric hospital in Poltava, is overwhelmed by the crisis -- and expects it to worsen when the war ends.

His ward was supposed to host a maximum of 40 women, but in March there were 47.

- Medicine shortages -

Around 10 percent of the 712 patients at the hospital in mid-March were those displaced by fighting -- mostly from the war-battered Kherson, Donetsk, Lugansk and Kharkiv regions.

Among them were other evacuees from Kherson, like 47-year-old Olga Beketova, who also suffers from schizophrenia.

She recalled being left without vital medication for weeks in the Kherson region under the Russian occupation as a severe medicine shortage ensued.

She had a seizure at home in May 2022 and was taken to hospital in Kherson, before being moved to Poltava when Ukrainian forces retook the city in November that year.

Leaning on a walking stick, she told AFP she then had a stroke in 2024, which she blamed on "all the anxiety".

Amid a shortage of medicine -- mostly expensive and imported from abroad -- some foreign aid organisations have stepped in.

- Aid with medicine -

French doctor Christian Carrer founded the humanitarian group AICM, which helps Ukrainian clinics, including psychiatric hospitals.

He said he worried about the refugee patients and the system crumbling.

"It's complicated.... There are patients who were ill before (the war) and those who fell ill after the start of the war because they suffered trauma," he told AFP.

In March, his NGO delivered epilepsy drugs, as well as supplies for treating seizures and schizophrenia to the Poltava hospital.

With resources dwindling, Ukrainian psychiatrists give their patients inappropriate sedatives to help them sleep, according to Carrer.

"We delivered products that diminish the effects of schizophrenia... but without numbing the patient," he said.

Russia's invasion had cut short Ukrainian plans to modernise its healthcare system.

A 2017 reform never reached psychiatric wards -- which retain much from the Soviet era.

- 'De-stigmatising' -

Doctor Telyukov recalled the chaos of patient evacuations in 2022, saying many arrived without personal belongings or documents.

A lot of people cannot speak about their trauma to their family or doctors.

"Those are the most difficult cases," he said.

Telyukov is also faced with a tsunami of disorders in the military.

He recounted treating a woman soldier traumatised by a September 2024 Russian bombing that killed 59 people, and another who was held in a Russian prison for six months.

He suspected the latter, also a woman, suffered sexual violence but said she "did not entirely" confide in him.

The rooms in his ward are named by colours, not numbers.

"It's to de-stigmatise, to get rid of bureaucracy!" the psychiatrist said.

In the "pink" ward, Klimova sat in a crowded room, and waved goodbye to an AFP team.

Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
A world of storm and tempest
When the Earth Quakes

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Myanmar quake victims mark new year camped in ruins
Mandalay, Myanmar (AFP) April 13, 2025
Thousands marked the start of Myanmar's water festival on Sunday in the ruins of last month's earthquake, with the country's most raucous holiday muted by the tragedy of the tremor. The "Thingyan" festival typically celebrates Myanmar's new year with water-splashing rituals symbolising cleansing and renewal, but the central cities of Mandalay and Sagaing lie devastated from the 7.7-magnitude quake. Two weeks on from the disaster which killed more than 3,600, hundreds are still living in tent enc ... read more

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
E. Europe watching closely as US weighs troop numbers

Trump carves up world and international order with it

US may pull 10,000 troops from eastern Europe

Pentagon chief fires US military representative to NATO

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
US Pentagon chief says military ready to ensure Iran never gets a nuclear bomb

US in hurry for nuclear deal, Iran says after high-stakes talks

Reducing U.S. troops in South Korea would be 'problematic,' top commander warns

Iran, US raise stakes ahead of key talks in Oman

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Microbial profile mapped aboard China space station

China highlights major strides in moon research and exploration

Space station advances muscle and semiconductor science

China logs 15th orbital mission with launch of Tianlian II-04

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
UK demands answers after MP denied entry to Hong Kong

New York ex-cop jailed for hounding US residents for China

Australian judge quits Hong Kong top court

China slams 'ignorant and impolite' US VP over 'peasants' comments

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Chinese EV battery giant CATL posts 33% surge in Q1 profit

A new path to self-powered infrastructure with thermoelectric cement

Sophisticated fire use revealed in Ice Age hearths from Ukraine

Smart home platform lowers energy costs and boosts grid resilience

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Trace wins major Army network contracts worth $373M

CesiumAstro joins Taiwan's initiative to build LEO satellite network

Senator questions canceling planned military satellites in favor of SpaceX

Skyloom completes OCT hardware deliveries for SDA York mission

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Germany leads allies in $24B military aid package for Ukraine

Finland to leave anti-personnel mine treaty

Trump nominee says to press UK on Israel arms

Three of four US soldiers missing in Lithuania found dead

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.