Serving People, Improving Health Project: Mobile healthcare to reach patients in the most remote areas in Poltava oblast

Residents of the remote villages in Poltava oblast do not need to go to the oblast center or nearest city anymore to get an ultrasound scanning, a blood pressure measurement, an ECG (electrocardiogram), routine screenings or tests. Seven vehicles equipped with the latest technology for rapid diagnosis were purchased and delivered to Poltava oblast under the Serving People, Improving Health joint project of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the World Bank. Last week, three of these vehicles made their first visit to six remote villages, and the medical teams examined 79 local residents.

"The use of the mobile diagnostic units is a really great idea. We went to the most remote rural areas to reach people, for whom visiting a doctor or seeking medical care was a real challenge. The assessment of the medical examination results will enable us to apply an individual approach to disease prevention and treatment - to recommend diets, treatment regimens, etc. The data obtained will also help us develop preventive measures for cardiovascular diseases and risk factors," noted Olha Kutsevol, deputy Physician-in-chief of the Reshetylivka PHC Center.

The mobile diagnostic units are equipped with modern high quality lab refrigerators and centrifuges, which ensure proper collection, storage and delivery of biomaterials to laboratories. The medical examination results (including laboratory tests, anthropometric measurements and ECG) will be forwarded to family doctors, with whom the examined people signed declarations.

In addition to mobile diagnostic units, under the Serving People, Improving Health joint project, the PHC centers in Poltava oblast received 35 service vehicles, 947 ECG machines with the remote ECG transmission functions and 34 central stations for the receipt of remotely transmitted ECG data.