Canada-Ukraine conference focuses on maternal and child health care (07/21/96)

Canada-Ukraine conference focuses on maternal and child health care

by Marta Dyczok

KYIV - "While the problems may seem impossibly daunting, I know what unites us is the desire to join efforts," said Canada's ambassador to Ukraine, Christopher Westdal, at the opening of the first Canada-Ukraine collaborative conference on Maternal/Child Health Care, in Pushcha Ozerna near Kyiv on May 14.

Some 250 Ukrainian doctors from all regions of the country came together to discuss continuing medical education as a way of improving the health care system in Ukraine. Co-organized by the Canadian Osvita Medical Project and the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, the conference provided a forum for participants to discuss how Ukrainian health care specialists could benefit from the best achievements of the Canadian health care system.

Both Canadian and Ukrainian doctors made presentations and held discussions on topics ranging from "State Policy and Principal Directions of Maternal/Child Health Care in Ukraine," to "Pediatrics: Common Diagnostic Dilemmas" and "Introduction of the Canadian Continuing Education Concept in Ukraine."

"You can't have healthy children unless you have healthy mothers," said the chairman of the Osvita Medical Project, Dr. Ihor Gauk, during his opening remarks. The professor of pediatrics at the University of Alberta continued, "Our main purpose is to convince people in medicine in Ukraine that you have to learn for life. The field of medicine is constantly changing and therefore doctors must continue learning all the time."

Dr. Yevhen Deneka, chief pathologist at Kyiv's teaching Hospital No. 10, is a young Ukrainian doctor who shares these views. Having participated in the Canadian exchange program and spent four months at the faculty of medicine at Alberta University, he learned about the system of continuing medical education in Canada. During his presentation at the conference he said, "While I was in Canada I understood a new concept of continuing education. However, the Canadian experience cannot simply be transplanted in Ukraine. We must study the strengths of the Canadian system and then adapt them to Ukrainian conditions."

The Osvita Medical Project aims to do just that. Started in 1992 by the University of Alberta, the project provides training for Ukrainian maternal/child health care specialists. Over the past four years, 57 Ukrainian doctors have traveled to Canada to upgrade their skills at Canada's top medical schools, and 150 Canadian doctors have come to Ukraine to share their expertise in areas such as pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology.

To date, the Canadian government, through the Central and East European Branch of the Canadian International Development Agency, has provided over $3 million for this project, and the project itself has raised another $43 million in donations.

Canadian doctors participate in the project on a volunteer basis, donating their time and expertise. Most of them find it a rewarding experience and offer to return to Ukraine a second time. Dr. Gauk, who has made six trips to Ukraine, has become well known and well respected among the medical profession in Ukraine. Before the conference started, he was constantly surrounded by doctors who came up to speak to him, and to thank him.

In addition to providing training for Ukrainian doctors, the Osvita Medical Project has also set up a fully equipped model laboratory in Children's Hospital No. 1, which serves as a quality control center for Kyiv Hospitals.

For two years, Canadian medical laboratory technologists Tina Gembi and Shelly Chamaschuk have been working in Kyiv, training Ukrainian counterparts in the operation and maintenance of the lab. "Our goals were to establish the lab and set up the basics of quality control procedures," said Ms. Gembi. "I was overwhelmed by the cooperation of the Ukrainian lab doctors," said Ms. Chamaschuk.

On May 13 the Canadian lab was officially transferred to Children's Hospital No. 1, and the Canadian technicians left at the end of June. "We have planted the seeds and now it's time for us to withdraw," continued Ms. Gembi.

Ambassador Westdal echoed these sentiments during his remarks to the conference. "In the long run, technical assistance is not the answer to the problems in the health care system of Ukraine. Educational institutions in Ukraine and Ukrainian authorities must decide what are the best policies for the Ukrainian people. Canada's program of technical cooperation is just that - cooperation. We cannot give you the answers, we can just share our knowledge."

| Home Page |