Dr Donbass: Living on the Edge | RT Documentary

What is it like operating during shelling or attending to a patient in a hospital destroyed by Ukrainian forces? Yet, these are the conditions Donbass doctors are forced to work in. A film crew follows their routine and reveals the courage and the passion they display as they save people’s lives.

A medical unit may be set up in a maintenance building to be protected from shelling. The doctors have to work within a 10-minute drive from the contact line, expecting shells to fly over at any second. Yet, the place would have operating tables and be fully equipped with everything needed.
Doctors often have to treat civilians as the Ukrainian Armed Forces keep shelling nearby villages. The locals are grateful the doctors can help.

Mine blast traumas are prevalent, a typical trauma for armed conflicts. Treating such injuries exhausts the doctors’ resources. It’s time and energy consuming. Moreover, such injuries require expensive prostheses and rehabilitation. That’s why the Ukrainian Armed Forces use cluster bombs in large amounts. They are beneficial in terms of the military economy.

More heart-wrenching stories and accounts of the doctors’ heroic routine – in Dr Donbass: Living on the Edge.