MOSCOW, December 13. /TASS/. Chukotka’s regional hospital is a town with a few buildings and units in the suburbs of Anadyr (the region’s main city). The scenic view is on the Bering Sea’s estuary, which is painted orange in sunsets. This is the hospital, which receives patients from across Chukotka. Practically all the hundred doctors working here used to come from the mainland.
"It was long before the graduation that I knew I would work on Chukotka," Anton Savin, a doctor at the intensive care unit, told TASS. "At my fifth year, this hospital’s former Chief Doctor Alexander Maslov invited me to work here. Chukotka was a perfect place in terms of money and the options to gain great experience."
The young doctor did not enjoy the pleasure of getting gradually into the profession. On his second day, he stayed on duty after hours.
"Here, that we have a shortage of doctors, every young specialist gains experience in no time. One doctor takes care of a wide range of directions: traumatology, gynecology, surgery, pediatrics, cardiology, intensive care," he said. "Any doctor here is above regular skills."
Right now, the hospital has only three experts in anesthesiology. To the question, whether three are too few or too many, he replies: "We manage," though adds that during the past summer he worked practically every 24 hours with a break for another 24 hours. Thus, he accumulated 450 business hours a month.
From time to time, doctors have to leave for two months, replacing doctors who work in other towns. But Doctor Savin does not complain, he says "my soul is in Chukotka. Right, winters are very cold and stormy, but people here are special, very kind, open and ready to help."
Alcohol is evil incarnate
About a half of huge Chukotka lies north of the Arctic Circle. Winter here is almost nine months long, the permafrost is everywhere, and thus this region has the shortest lines of roads in the country.
The only year-round transport is the aviation. Quite often it is impossible for patients to get quickly to doctors, and their conditions grow worse.
"On the other hand, no roads - no accidents," the doctor said. "We have very few patients who suffer in traffic accidents."
Doctors are very concerned about the North’s indigenous peoples - they are not well socialized and very often would not realize how important it may be to address for medical assistance without delays. In addition to that - the problem of alcohol.
"Evolutionary, the Chukchi eat very much meat and fat, and due to this diet their injuries heal fast, they have better reactions to antibiotics and they are resistant to oncology, but on the other hand, alcohol addiction develops very quickly," he continued. "90% of patients in the trauma unit - with broken bones, cuts and injuries - become our patients because of alcohol."
Complicated cases
The doctor’s complicated cases are like a horror film’s frames, running one after another.
"One of our patients was injured by a bear. Very grave traumas of head and brain. He stayed at the intensive care for two months. Overcame it. Another story happened in Anadyr, there was a fire in a flat. The parents, in order to rescue kids, had to throw them from the fourth floor out of windows, and then jumped. All the four were burnt, had broken bones, injuries, concussions. The cases were extremely complicated, but we’ve managed to rescue them all," he said.
"The role of doctors at intensive care unit is invisible - we are not regular doctors," he continued. "Very often our patients are unconscious and cannot see us or our work, and when they recover, they hurry to go home and forget what had happened to them. This is only natural."
The patient is never alone
Doctors often travel to the country’s big medical centers for complicated surgery or to verify diagnoses. Across Chukotka live only 50,000, and 15,000 of them - in Anadyr, thus it is not reasonable economically to have in the region a big lab to analyze a certain disorder.
"For example, here we can stabilize a patient in case of a stroke, but later on we’ll send him or her for stenting to Moscow or St. Petersburg, and often travel together with the patient," he said.
Two months of experience, that fits one year
A couple of years ago, during the two months’ holiday, the doctor decided to go to Nigeria in a mission of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). He was curious: how would it be to drop the stable life in order to save lives of other people. He went there to receive international experience and new emotions.
"A few months before the holiday, I wrote to MSF, prepared all documents and certificates, filled in all applications, made necessary vaccinations, passed an interview with my supervisor in the organization’s Japanese office, and later on I was offered a mission to Nigeria," he said. "I received instructions and materials on the MSF standards and methods. I agreed."
For two months in 2017, the doctor worked in Nigeria’s capital - Abuja. To there, women from across the country were delivered with whatever gynecology disorders - Caesarean section, difficult childbirth, uterine ruptures, bleeding after and during childbirth, malaria, and anemia of pregnant women.
Since in that team, Savin was the only intense care specialist, he worked day and night, taking naps only from time to time. "My colleagues in the mission were surprised to learn I am from Russia, and said they saw a Russian doctor in Nigeria for the first time," he said.
Over two months, the doctor took care of more than 800 patients. "It’s almost my annual plan here, on Chukotka," he said.
The mission was charity, and doctors were not paid. The only income they had were the daily allowances of €3 and free bottled water and food. All the money he received there, the doctor spent for a farewell party with colleagues and patients.
Such humanitarian missions are very valuable, the doctor says. At a certain moment, you understand that all your problems are nothing in comparison with what you see and learn. It is like to live over a war. "Another mission? I think I shall pick a country, where I could get experience in military surgery. I want to practice that direction as well.".