EU and UNDP support initiatives by medical colleges in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts to launch "Emergency Medical Technician" training programme

Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, 31 March 2021 – The first students of the new speciality of "Emergency Medical Technician" have completed their training course, the launch of which was supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine, together with its national partners.

Twenty ambulance drivers on 31 March completed the three-month training course at Bakhmut Medical College, and will now provide emergency medical care as paramedics. According to updated Ukrainian legislation, in four years, all members of emergency medical teams (particularly drivers) will be required to have the appropriate training.

Training and equipping the Emergency Medical Technicians Centre at Bakhmut College with mannequins, consumables, furniture, computers and distance learning equipment was carried out under the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme at a total cost of U.S. $33,300 (UAH 921,878), with the financial support from the European Union.

The coordinator of the Local Governance and Decentralization Reform Component of the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme, Olena Ruditch, stressed that UNDP and national partners are working systematically to maintain the public health sector's effectiveness, and the sustainability of its reform. 

"Capacity building of communities in the medical field involves training health workers, who are currently fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, and taking a more comprehensive approach to improving the skills of all workers in the medical field, including medical technicians," Ruditch said. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the first set of students learned online, and trained in practical skills at the Donetsk Regional Centre for Emergency Care and Disaster Medicine.

Natalia Krasnozhon, Director of Bakhmut Medical College, is proud that the college was the first educational institution to start such training. 

"We were the first, not only in our oblast, but also in Ukraine, to start a new profession – emergency medical technician, realising that the success of any reform depends primarily on the training of qualified professionals who will implement the latest knowledge and approaches underlying medical reform," Krasnozhon said.

The professional training course in the speciality "Emergency Medical Technician" has already been approved by the Licensing Commission of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, and has been registered in educational entities' electronic register. From April, preparation of the second batch of specialists, not only in Donetsk Oblast but also in Luhansk Oblast, will begin.

Ihor Kiiashko, Director of the Donetsk Regional Centre for Emergency Care and Disaster Medicine, stressed that this vocational education initiative was in demand in eastern Ukraine communities. 

"This is a truly extraordinary event – the first graduation of students in Ukraine in a fundamentally new speciality of emergency medical technician,” Kiiashko said. “This will soon increase emergency medical teams' efficiency and ensure the provision of modern resuscitation measures. In turn, this will ensure compliance with high standards of medical care in eastern Ukraine."

Background

The United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme (UN RPP) is being implemented by four United Nations agencies: the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).

Twelve international partners support the Programme: the European Union (EU), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, and the governments of Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden & Switzerland.

Media enquiries

Maksym Kytsiuk, Communications Specialist, UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme, maksym.kytsiuk@undp.org, +380 63 576 1839