The total number of medical personnel – doctors, nurses and paramedics in Ukraine in 2022 decreased by 14% compared to 2021, according to the results of research “Medicine during the war: the influence of a full-scale invasion of Russia on the health care system of Ukraine”, the Ukrainian Center for Healthcare (UCH).
According to them, the number of nursing staff decreased the most, which decreased by 16.5% compared to prewar levels.
“It is expected that the number of medical personnel decreased in regions where active hostilities are taking place or in the temporarily occupied territories of the Russian Federation,” the UCH press release said.
At the same time, it is noted that against the background of the reduction in the number of medical personnel in the frontline and de-occupied territories there was no noticeable influx of medical workers in the rear regions, except in Poltava region, where the number of doctors slightly increased.
“Such trends may indicate the scale of migration of medics abroad,” the UCH indicated.
At the same time, citing the Polish Ministry of Health’s response to UCH’s inquiry about the number of medics who received specialty work permits in Poland in 2022, the center cites data that as of late February 2023, just over 2,300 doctors and over 1,060 nurses and nurse aides were employed there, with nearly 1.8 million Ukrainian refugees registered in Poland, according to official figures.
“Since Poland has taken in the largest number of Ukrainians, it is expected that the flow of medics will match a similar scale. But less than 1% of the pre-war number of Ukrainian medics were employed in Poland,” the UCH states.
It is specified that the analysis was conducted using data from the National Health Service of Ukraine (NHSU), which takes into account only those medics who worked in contracted with it medical institutions.
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