The demand for diagnostics and endoscopic examinations has not declined critically since the start of the full-scale war, but the financial factor had a significant impact on the decline in demand, experts interviewed by Interfax-Ukraine believe.
“At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, for objective reasons, the demand for medical services, among which diagnostics plays a significant role, decreased. However, unlike in other areas, the direction of medical services to relatively safe regions of the country did not have critical consequences. Obviously, this is due to the large number of temporarily displaced persons, including many children and young people who are working,” said Yaroslav Mudry, an endoscopist at the Leleka Multidisciplinary Medical Center.
At the same time, according to him, “against the background of general inflation, the cost of endoscopic diagnostics has also increased.”
He emphasized that, just like before the full-scale war, Ukrainians’ visits to medical institutions for diagnostics are most often caused by symptoms of existing diseases or control observations after treatment, in particular, control after tumor removal or diagnosis of tumors at late stages.
“Unfortunately, the level of preventive diagnostics and research is extremely low,” said Mudryi.
In particular, he emphasized that in Ukraine, compared to other European countries, the number of patients with colorectal cancer, which often has no symptoms, remains quite high, but “there is currently a positive trend, we see an increase in the number of cases of early diagnosis (screening colonoscopy).”
“I am convinced that this situation looks optimistic,” said the endoscopist.
At the same time, Mudryi emphasized that Leleka uses “all possible factors to increase the level of effective diagnosis of masses (colon polyps), which, in turn, will reduce the level of new cases of colorectal cancer.”
The clinic’s specialists help patients at the most difficult stage – preparation for the procedure, which helps to improve the quality of diagnosis, and during the examination they use additional accessories and disposable consumables to remove the tumors.
For her part, Lyudmyla Svatko, Head of Diagnostic Service at Adonis Medical Group, also noted that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, “we have experienced a decrease in the flow of patients, but this was more related to the evacuation, but with the return of the population, the need for diagnostics has increased, even increased due to the exacerbation of health problems due to stress and adverse conditions.”
“We have returned to the pre-war level of utilization of our diagnostic departments, and we even see an increasing demand,” she said.
According to her, MRI of the head, cervical and lumbar spine, and knee examinations are currently in the highest demand among the population.
In addition, thanks to Adonis’ active cooperation with charitable foundations, the clinic conducts a significant number of studies related to military injuries, including the effects of shell shock, trauma, shrapnel detection, and studies related to preparation for further rehabilitation at the clinic.
In addition, Adonis notes an increase in demand for mammography and breast MRI among women, which doctors attribute to the constant stress Ukrainian women are under.
At the same time, Svatko noted that studies using large medical equipment, such as CT and MRI, are key to diagnosing the wounded and continue to be in demand among the study population.
“Unfortunately, we state the fact that patients have started to undergo annual examinations untimely due to the displacement and are coming with more serious diseases that require more complex studies,” she said.
At the same time, Svatko noted that Adonis is one of the few medical networks that have not stopped working since the beginning of the war and can always provide qualified medical care.
“Our diagnostic equipment has fully autonomous power sources in case of water and electricity outages, so we can see patients without reducing turnover regardless of the circumstances,” she said.
At the same time, Svatko estimates that the cost of servicing imported large medical equipment has increased since the start of the full-scale invasion.
“Now the service takes up most of the budget, we wait longer for repairs because it is related to logistics and the situation with carriers on the border with Europe. It has become more difficult to service and maintain the equipment,” she said.
