What this surgeon from Ukraine is learning in Hamilton about treating victims of war

A surgeon from Ukraine, usually working at a public trauma hospital, has come to Hamilton to learn more about techniques that could save lives among the victims of Russia’s brutal invasion.

Dr. Mariia Kuzeikiv arrived in Canada in October as part of Hamilton Health Sciences’ ASSIST program, which has brought seven doctors from Ukraine for training to treat severe injuries from war. 

The program started in 2022 by Dr. Mark Pahuta, an orthopedic spine surgeon and associate professor at McMaster University in Hamilton.

Pahuta is of Ukrainian heritage and has family and friends in Ukraine, he said.

“I wanted to be able to contribute in some positive way to help the terrible situation that’s occurring there now, and apply my skills and training to help Ukrainians,” said Pahuta.

In February 2022, Russia began a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine. According to United Nations human rights office totals released this month, 14,534 civilians — including 745 children — have been killed since the war began. Recently, U.S. President Donald Trump and his government have worked towards a plan to end the war, with Canada and other world leaders saying it “needs more work.” 

But more Ukrainians are impacted every day. As recently as Nov. 19, at least 26 people were killed and almost 100 were injured in a Russian drone and missile attack that hit apartment buildings in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil, according to Ukraine’s interior minister.

“Surgeons are a very important human resource in Ukraine right now, and it strains a hospital to send someone here,” said Pahuta. 

“Top of mind is making this a worthwhile and valuable experience so that they learn some transferable skills that they can actually go back to Ukraine and have an impact.”

Kuzeikiv is in Canada for six months until April.

Work in Ukraine involves injured soldiers

In Ukraine, Kuzeikiv works in a public trauma hospital, where she treats civilians and military officers who were injured in the conflict.

“My main work right now in the hospital where I am is to provide care for the patients with gunshot and blast trauma, mostly it’s blast trauma,” she said, referring to injuries from explosions.

Kuzeikiv said she sees “large wounds” where bone tissue has been lost or that leave big skin defects. Some need several surgeries to recover.

“My main goal is to help [patients regain their] primary movements,” she said.

Once back in Ukraine, Kuzeikiv hopes to use what she learned in Hamilton to help those injured in Lviv.

“I really think that I’ll improve my skills and I’ll implement everything what they’re [teaching] here because it’s very necessary right now,” she said.

2-way learning

On Nov. 14, Pahuta and Kuzeikiv, along with another surgeon, performed a special lower back surgery on a patient with an unstable pelvic fracture — a first for Kuzeikiv. She said she was fearful in the operating room, but also had “a lot of expectations.”

“Sometimes I didn’t know what I should do,” said Kuzeikiv. “Sometimes [colleagues] supported me during this surgery because sometimes I didn’t know how to use [the tools].”

During the surgery, doctors inserted several screws in the patient’s lower back to connect the spine and pelvis, which Pahuta says they hope will help reduce her pain.

Surgeons also used something called navigation to allow them to do the surgery in a minimally-invasive way, which Kuzeikiv also got to learn about that day.

She said learning these techniques in Canada will help her when seeing patients in Lviv, a western city in Ukraine that is “more peaceful,” said Kuzeikiv, but also subject to Russian attacks.

Keeping busy

Dr. Paul Klas, a trauma and hip and knee replacement surgeon at Hamilton Health Sciences, said Hamilton is a good place for Kuzeikiv to learn.

“Hamilton Health Sciences, depending on the metric that you use, is probably the second busiest trauma centre in Ontario and top three in Canada,” he told CBC Hamilton.

“So we get a high volume of blunt orthopedic trauma.”

Klas said he’s looking forward to continuing to work with Kuzeikiv.

“It’s been a lot of fun having fellows from Ukraine come and share their experiences and to be able to work together taking care of complex polytrauma patients,” he said.

Pahuta said the Ukrainian fellows are not the only ones learning, however.

“Unfortunately, a lot of innovation happens in wartime and constantly in the news we’re hearing about new innovative uses of drones and other technology in war,” he said.

“The same is happening in medicine and in surgery. And so this is an opportunity for us to build bridges and connections with the Ukrainian surgeons and learn from them.”