“Euro-2012 has given us an impact for upgrading”

LVIV – There are less than 80 days remaining before the start of the soccer championship. According to the Euro-2012 organizational committee estimation, 800 to 900 thousand guests are coming over to Ukraine. It is clear that such numbers of people, especially soccer fans, involve a high risk of emergency situations (let us just remind the situation at the stadium in Port-Said, when 74 people died and more than 150 were injured as a result of a fight between fans of two soccer teams). Are the medical institutions of Lviv prepared for Euro-2012? How is hospital staff going to overcome the language barrier? On what terms will medical help be given to foreigners? We have talked about this with Volodymyr ZUB, head of the Lviv City Health Care Administration.

“According to the specificity of our industry, we have to be ready to provide help under any conditions, 24/7, all year round,” Zub says. “But this is such a serious event, the third biggest one in the world after the Olympic Games and the World Soccer Championship, so it requires serious preparation. We have already prepared a few institutions to receive fans, for example, the multisectoral Hospital No. 8, which is the closest to the stadium and fan zone. During the period of preparation for Euro-2012 we have opened the neurosurgery and eye microsurgery departments and a first-aid center, and increased the number of intensive care units. At the First-Aid Hospital, we are finishing the work to create an emergency care department. Besides, we have given staff training, and elaborated the concept of medical support during the championship, which lists the medical institutions that are going to receive the UEFA family [commercial partners, UEFA administration, referees, sponsors. – Author], teams, foreign guests, and VIP-guests. We also specified the institutions that are going to give routine help to the city dwellers. The citizens of Lviv will receive the same amount of help during the championship they normally receive. We are also busy with other aspects, like providing medical care at the spots of mass events (at the stadium, in fan zones, and other places with crowds of people), rendering medical aid in case of emergencies, and the provision of the UEFA family.”

Are the local medical institutions going to cope with the inrush of fans?

“At game days we expect three times more guests arriving in Lviv than the stadium can hold. The stadium capacity is 32,000 people. So, on game days we expect about 100,000 guests, from abroad as well as from other parts of Ukraine. Considering that German, Portuguese, and Danish teams are going to play in Lviv, large numbers of fans are going to arrive from those countries. Germany has already confirmed there are going to be 20,000 of their fans in Lviv. Denmark says it is counting on 5,000 on its part. We expect approximately the same number of people to arrive from Portugal. Seven hospitals are going to take care of fans who might need medical help. Six of them are state hospitals and one is a private institution. The UEFA expert commission has visited these hospitals in November and confirmed their preparedness. The Lviv Cancer Center, which is situated five kilometers away from the stadium, is going to be involved for three days, when the games are going to be held (on June 9, 13, and 17), on the days when the load is going to reach its maximum. We are going to locate a team of surgeons from the First-Aid Hospital there, who will provide help in case of multiple traumas, and also a team of neurosurgeons. Hospital No. 8, Cardiology Center, Military Hospital, First-Aid Hospital, Lviv Railroad Clinic Hospital, all of which are within a 10-minute ride from the stadium, are going to work for the Euro championship. The private institution, Saint Paraskeva’s Diagnostic Center, is only going to deal with diagnosing soccer players’ traumas and catering for other patients.”

How is the language training of the staff going?

“We have enough medics who speak English. We are going to involve them in the first place in order to avoid the language barrier. But also, to simplify our doctors’ work, we are going to place volunteers (for the most part those are students of the medical university) at each institution that is designed for rendering help to foreigners, including the first-aid care control room. We have already had a meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Health Care, UEFA, and the National Agency, where it was confirmed that English is the main working language. We also take into consideration the fact that a lot of Germans are going to arrive, so we are learning German as well.”

On what terms are the foreigners going to receive first-aid care?

“UEFA recommends that the fans who are going to Ukraine have an insurance policy on them. Besides, UEFA recommends them to have plastic banking cards, so it is easier to pay for all kinds of services, including health care. ATMs are going to be installed at all of the major hospitals. We have designed four options of taking care of foreigners at our health care institutions. All of them are described in detail, so both hospitals and foreigners will have an opportunity to familiarize themselves with them.”

How many ambulances will be working at the stadium? Has the ambulance fleet been modernized?

“The scheme is already devised and even tried out during the formal inauguration of the Lviv Arena and the game against Austria. There will be seven ambulances on point duty at the stadium: two for the teams, one for VIPs, and four on the perimeter of the stadium. Besides, five more ambulances will be reserved for emergency cases. The ambulances will be manned with the same doctors and paramedics who have already worked at the stadium and know the situation. We are going to use this scheme in the Ukrainian championship, during the Karpaty’s games at the Lviv Arena. The same goes for hospitals: on the game days the same teams will be on duty. The main thing is to ensure the correct organization of the whole process.

“The ambulance fleet has not yet been revamped, although we have applied for purchasing 20 ambulances at the expense of the municipal budget. The operating conditions of our ambulances are below any criticism. But there has already been some progress, even if little, because during the preparation for Euro-2012 we were able to equip each ambulance with electrocardiographs, pneumatic splints, defibrillators, and Ambu oxygen bags for lung ventilation.”

What does Euro-2012 mean for your industry on the whole, something positive, or a nuisance?

“Euro-2012 is a huge event for the whole nation, an opportunity to show our country as a powerful European state. Everything depends on whether we will be able to make a good use of this opportunity.

“As far as our industry is concerned, Euro-2012 has definitely given us an impact and stimulus for upgrading. Over this time, we have invested 30 million hryvnias from the municipal budget in Lviv’s health care system, to pay for revamping and buy new equipment, whereas the government has not put a cent in, so far.”