Imagine a mother whose child is sick with cancer. Imagine the child has to take chemotherapy and the mother has to sit through the procedure for hours, counting the drops of drugs going through a regular drip.
This is still common in Ukraine, which lacks special equipment for measuring out drugs to be administered intravenously.
The state budget only provides for up to 60 percent of the money required for children with cancer, which is not enough to cover new medical equipment.
But where the government has failed, regular Ukrainians have stepped in to buy infusion pumps – special drips for delivering medical fluids properly.
Employees of 21 Kyiv advertising agencies got together through an online civic initiative and donated one day’s worth of their salaries on Feb. 15, Childhood Cancer Day, to buy 10 infusion pumps for Children Cancer Center in Okhmatdyt state clinic in Kyiv.
“Infusion pumps in the chemotherapy unit are about 15 years old, and are half-broken,” says Yulia Nogovitsyna, who has been volunteering at Okhmatdyt for more than four years, teaching art therapy classes for children and their parents in the Child Cancer Center.
“It’s difficult to work with them, and if we use a regular drip, a mother must sit and count the drops. Sometimes for hours, sometimes for days.”
According to Nogovitsyna, one U.S.-made infusion pump, with a 35 percent discount, costs Hr 10,500. The new online initiative called “Tabletochki” collected Hr 105,000, which means Okhmatdyt will be able to afford 10.
“It won’t solve the problem, but it will ease it,” says Nataliya Kabalya, head of the chemotherapy unit in Okhmatdyt. “Equipment needs a break from time to time, the machines we have here have been used 24/7.”
Kabalya says the government covers the cost of only 40-60 percent of drugs needed for children fighting cancer, though she can’t say how much Okhmatdyt spends on drugs yearly.
The Health Ministry’s press service, however, boasts that the “2012 state budget sets out Hr 90 million for drugs to fight child cancer, which is 50 percent more than last year.”
Ukraine has 1,000 child cancer cases registered every year. By the end of 2010, the nation had 5,510 children with cancer officially registered with the Health Ministry.
This is the latest statistic available.
It’s difficult to work with them, and if we use a regular drip, a mother must sit and count the drops. Sometimes for hours, sometimes for days.
– Yulia Nogovitsyna, Okhmatdyt volunteer
Many of the children from across the nation go through Okhmatdyt at some point because it’s the biggest hospital for children in Ukraine.
So, the charity initiative “Tabletochki” has plenty of work to do. It has been active since last fall, starting off by providing a shipment of cancer drug for children in Okhmatdyt.
“Our first action was called “Wallet Or Life,” says Olya Kudinenko, the 23-year-old founder of the initiative.
“Many drugs needed for these children can be bought only abroad, so I decided to ask my friends and their friends to look at Euro coins in their wallets because they cannot use them in Ukraine anyway. I collected 1,000 euros in two hours.”
While traveling abroad, Kudinenko spent the money on drugs required by Okhmatdyt, the list of which the clinic gives to volunteers and charities.
She says she does not donate money and keeps all records online on her charity’s facebook page www.facebook.com/tabletochki?sk=info.
Kudinenko, who works as a PR manager for billionaire Victor Pinchuk’s Foundation, has already got plans for the next charity action.
“Presents, given by one big company to another for some holiday, are usually rubbish,” she says. “We will offer them to donate the money to children with cancer, and send their partner companies “Thank you” cards instead. This is quite typical for Europe, but here it’s unusual.”
Nogovitsyna, the Okhmatdyt volunteer, praises the new initiative for its effectiveness. “Kudinenko manages to collect enough money for us to get needed drugs regularly,” she says.
But she also warns that the situation with cancer treatment is even more critical outside the capital, where there are fewer charity initiatives who can ease it up.
Kyiv Post staff writer Alyona Zhuk can be reached at [email protected].
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