Ukrainian trainee medics start seven-week Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine programme
A group of 20 Ukrainian medical students arrived in Cambridge for a seven-week programme of clinical placements last week, to help fill the gaps they have missed in their training because of the war in their country.
The University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine is partnering with Addenbrooke’s and Royal Papworth Hospital to provide expert teaching to the medical students from Kharkiv National Medical University.
Starting this week, they will learn from experts in a number of surgical and medical specialties, and receive mentoring, supervision and bedside teaching from doctors. The seven-week, fully-funded programme – the first of its kind in the UK – will enhance the training the students have already received and support Ukraine’s vital health service.
The students on the programme, most of whom have been displaced by the conflict, are in their final two years of medical training. Because of the war, and before that the outbreak of Covid-19, most of their learning over the past two-and-a-half years has been online and they have missed out on essential practical teaching.
One of the students, Serhii Alkhimov – who as a Ukrainian man needed special permission to leave the country to take part in the programme – spent four months living in an underground train station in Kharkiv with 1,000 others. He treated many ill people on his own, and was awarded a medal for his services by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
He said: “I had military medical experience, so it wasn’t as hard for me as it might have been, but I didn’t get a lot of sleep. Most of the people I treated had chronic illnesses and couldn’t get help anywhere else. I was glad to help, and save two or three lives.”
Another, Vira Lavryk, fled Kharkiv after it was attacked at the start of the conflict, travelling back to her hometown in the south of Ukraine, before later travelling to Portugal for a hospital placement.
Vira said: “Kharkiv was attacked on the first day of the invasion, in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening – hour after hour. My mum told me to come home, which was safe for a while, but then my hometown was invaded and occupied by Russia. I was so scared and it left a mark on me that I will never forget.
“It is my ambition to specialise in medicine and become a surgeon. Cambridge is a higher level of education, so coming here even for a short-term placement is a dream for me.”
Student Zaur Badalov helped to treat injured soldiers and civilians in Ukraine after the invasion. He said: “I was staying at a hospital in Kharkiv on the day the invasion happened: I was the first one to notice the windows shaking and woke the others. We were all in shock, and then that morning we had injured people coming into the hospital needing help.”
After a few weeks, Zaur, who grew up in Kharkiv, moved with his family to the west of Ukraine, where he was able to continue his studies online while helping treat injured people arriving at local hospitals from the east. “I learned a lot helping with the cases, and seeing how the doctors treated people. Now I have a big opportunity to learn new methods of treatment in Cambridge – medicine in the UK is world class – and take this knowledge and these skills back to Ukraine and pass it on to others.”
The University of Cambridge is co-ordinating the overall programme and clinical training will be delivered by the hospitals involved. There is no cost to students, with travel and living expenses funded by a donation from biotechnology company Illumina, and accommodation funded by an anonymous donor. Homerton College, where the students will stay, will provide opportunities to socialise and space to relax outside of their placements.
Paula Dowdy, senior vice president and general manager of Illumina for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, said: “We are proud to support this practical response from Cambridge University that recognises the importance of continuity of education and the opportunity it provides the Ukrainian medical students, but also for the hoped-for rebuilding of health services in Ukraine in the future.”
Paul Wilkinson, clinical dean at the University’s School of Clinical Medicine, said: “Colleagues have worked incredibly hard to get this programme up and running in a short space of time. This is action-orientated: it’s about packing as much as possible into seven weeks, everything essential that will allow Kharkiv National Medical University to progress students which otherwise, because of the circumstances, it just couldn’t.
“Ukrainian medical schools don’t want to lose students and doctors who will be essential to rebuilding health services in the country after the conflict.”
Daria Shliakhova, students’ mobility coordinator at Kharkiv National Medical University, said: “We have such an intense situation in Ukraine: we really need good doctors with good practical skills, who can help our people and save their lives.
“We would like to express our gratitude to Cambridge for supporting Kharkiv National Medical University and all Ukrainians.”
Following the placements, the students will receive a learning portfolio to support their continuing medical training with Kharkiv National Medical University.
