When war broke out, a maxillofacial surgeon turned a TV broadcast truck into an operating room for wounded soldiers.
For eight years, Dr. Miron Ugrin has been serving Ukrainian soldiers fighting against Russian aggressors at the front. When war broke out in eastern Ukraine, this maxillofacial surgeon turned a TV broadcast truck into an operating room, where he operates on wounded soldiers.
For him, he says, the war didn’t start on February 24. "It’s been going on for eight years. I performed my first military surgery during the Maidan Uprising," he explains in an interview with the PAP agency.
An operating room in a truck
Dr. Ugrin runs a facial and jaw surgery clinic in Lviv. Until 2012, he mainly helped children whose baby teeth didn’t grow properly and oncology patients. "When the war started, we also dealt with the war," he says.
He explains that now, with battles where fewer guns are fired and more bombs are dropped, arms, legs and faces are most at risk. That is why his "operating room" is especially equipped for operating on these types of wounds. "I know and understand the logistical issues, the needs of the doctors in terms of medical and operational measures, and that is why when providing assistance to the wounded we focus on maxillofacial wounds," said the professor.
Elephant and Little Elephant
"Now we are treating wounded soldiers from the bombed training camp in Jaworów, who are in the emergency department and in the Lviv Military Hospital," the doctor added.
He made his mobile operating room out of a TV broadcasting vehicle. He calls it "Elephant," and the smaller vehicle that serves as an ambulance, "Little Elephant."
Dr. Ugrin expressed his appreciation for the Poles. He added that he has been cooperating for 30 years with the Polish Medical Mission, among others, and is sure that Poland is a friend of Ukraine.
