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- On the front line of life: how a scientist-surgeon saves wounded soldiers on the front line
On the front line of life: how a scientist-surgeon saves wounded soldiers on the front line
Complex operations literally in the trenches, daily missile danger and no red crosses on uniforms and medical vehicles. On the front line, the enemy hunts doctors with particular fierceness - apparently in revenge for their ability to pull the wounded from the dead. Our interlocutor Roman in his peaceful life was a doctor-surgeon, a researcher at a large research institute in Moscow. Now he is here, at the front - he works as the head of a medical station, which is deployed just four kilometers from the line of contact. On his account - hundreds of saved lives of our guys. In the rare moments of calm between operations and shelling, Roman told the Izvestia correspondent what the medics have to face on the front line.
Race with death
We were interrupted after all. First, a buggy driver came running to the medical center of the Marine assault battalion. He flew here on an open field road to save the life of a soldier bleeding to death in his car.
- Driving as fast as he could, but constantly having to look over his shoulder. "A bird could come at any moment," the driver said quickly.
The wounded man is met by a paramedic, a doctor and two orderlies with stretchers.
The four of them take him down to the dugout, and the examination begins. His face and neck are all black, the earth seems to be embedded in the skin, his uniform and body armor are covered with blood.
- It is urgent to stop the bleeding, but to do this we need to find the wound," says one of the medics.
The vest is quickly removed, the uniform is cut off with medical scissors.
- How was he wounded? - Roman asks the driver.
- A drone dropped an anti-tank mine on the dugout, he was covered with earth, I had to dig him out, - he answered.
While the paramedic washed his face from dirt and blood, Roman found the wound.
It turned out that the shrapnel had gone under the vest and pierced the chest. The rest of the shrapnel was stopped by the armor. From the great loss of blood, the wounded man almost lost consciousness, but still moaned in pain.
- The wound is shrapnel, blind, penetrating into the chest cavity with a rib fracture on the right side, but there is no internal bleeding, compressing the lung. So, the chest at this stage do not need to drain, - comments the doctor.
After washing the wound put a special film on the wound to avoid the ingress of air (this threatens a deadly pneumothorax) and tied with a pressure dressing.
- Large blood loss, put a drip with tranexam on friosterin, replenish the lost blood volume and stop bleeding. Promedol will not be injected, he may suffocate, we'll inject nefopam again on the road, we'll match the time. The wound is heavily contaminated with soil, we inject ceftriaxone antibiotic into the drip, add another - metronidazole, - the doctor says quickly and clearly.
The medics immediately begin to work.
Half an hour later, the wounded man's condition stabilizes. Bleeding is stopped, the anesthetic continues to work, the soldier can be evacuated to the hospital.
The road to the rear hospital
A sanitary "loaf" is approaching the medical station. The whole car is shrouded in masksets, on the roof of the means of electronic warfare. The wounded man is carefully but quickly loaded into the cabin, a fighter with an automatic rifle controls the air: UAV strikes on medical stations and evacuation groups are the enemy's favorite tactics. The doctor gives the driver a wound card. It records the nature of the wound, the time of dressing and the content of the medical care given.
- This is so that the doctors at the hospital can orient themselves more quickly," Roman explains.
An orderly accompanies the wounded person to the special medical unit (MOSN). The doctor stays at the medical station. His help may be needed again at any moment. It takes up to three hours, sometimes more.
- There are drones flying everywhere, and the REB on the car saves us, but we often have to take cover in forest belts and wait for clear skies," Roman says.
REB systems on ambulances
Only then do we start talking to him.
Science can wait - it's time to defend the Motherland
The choice of profession for Roman was obvious: his parents are doctors, his entire childhood was spent among representatives of this noble profession. Having graduated from school with honors, he entered the second medical university in Moscow named after N.I. Pirogov, the founder of the world's military field surgery. After successfully graduating from the university and completing his residency, my interlocutor worked in a hospital for some time, and then decided to become a scientist by specialization.
- I started to study and work with medicines and preparations in the field of surgery. I worked for many years in a research institute. I defended my thesis and was going to promote science further, but a special military operation began. We have a serious enemy - the entire collective West, which supplies its weapons to Ukraine. Our guys are in trouble here. And since the Motherland is in danger, so, science will wait, I decided, - recalls the doctor.
And he went and signed a contract.
- The first months I served in the hospital, working in the very center of Artemovsk, just during the fiercest fighting, - he says. - In history, complex operations have never been conducted so close to the front line. A full-fledged hospital, where more than a hundred medics treated several hundred wounded a day, was opened just half a kilometer from the enemy positions.
He emphasizes: the main task of the medics on the first line of fighting is to stabilize the patient's condition in order to send him to hospital.
- In fact, Ukrainian militants are hitting hospitals with missiles in violation of all conventions, military medical facilities have to be moved further away from the front line, which means that the evacuation time is multiplied," Roman complains.
At the same time, frontline medicine is constantly improving, the medic notes.
- For example, in Artemovsk hospital the evacuation time was minimal, operations were often carried out within the "golden hour" - the time after a wound, when there is a very good chance to save a man and keep him healthy," he says.
During the battles for the city, Roman and his colleagues performed the most complicated surgical operations. For a doctor it is important not only to save a life, but also to preserve the health of a wounded soldier. According to the medic, it was a unique hospital of its kind.
- Once we received a soldier with serious shrapnel wounds. But the most unpleasant thing was that he had a broken artery in his arm. As a rule, in such cases, the arm is amputated to save his life. But we decided to do a difficult operation of transplantation. Bone, muscle and artery were transplanted from the leg to the arm. It turns out that we saved not only his life, but also his arm," the doctor summarized.
They met him as a native
After the liberation of Artemovsk, the unit was transferred to another direction, closer to the rear.
- I asked the head of the medical service of the group to stay "in the trenches", as for several months of service I gained invaluable experience in rescuing wounded soldiers who had just arrived from the front line. I was offered the position of medical platoon commander - chief of the medical service of the airborne assault battalion of one of the Marine Corps brigades," Roman explained.
He noted that the brigade welcomed him as a native, initiated him into the Marines, gave him a calfskin and a black beret.
- Although the only headgear on the front line is a helmet. Nationalists are literally hunting for medics. We don't put red crosses on the cars, we take them off the uniforms. Medical personnel are one of the main targets," Roman says emotionally.
Against all moral principles and the Geneva Convention, as he notes, the enemy is trying to knock out as many of our orderlies and doctors as possible, and with them destroy our wounded.
Almost all are returning to action
- The number of incoming wounded goes in waves, depending on the intensity of fighting in a particular area. Contusions, shrapnel wounds, wounds after being hit by a mortar are common stories in the epicrisis," explains the specialist.
Almost 100% of the guys who come to him and his colleagues get back on their feet, even if not immediately, after some time.
- This is one of the reasons why people are hunting us," Roman says.
Continuing the conversation, the doctor recalls that a few weeks ago, when the Marines were liberating the village, he and his colleagues worked around the clock. The medics did not sleep at all.
- A wounded soldier was brought to us, his legs were broken, his face was badly burned, and he had a lot of tangential wounds and shrapnel lodged in his body. One leg was dangling on tendons, a lung was punctured," he said. - We installed a laryngeal mask, connected an oxygen machine and began to urgently bring out of shock: due to the loss of a large volume of blood, the vessels were empty, it was impossible to put an internal catheter, we had to insert a catheter through the bone.
Then the doctors tried to save her legs - they restored the vascular bundle - arteries and veins.
- The torn vessels were connected by tubes, thus restoring blood supply and saving the limb for the jewelry work of the vascular surgery team at the next stage, - the doctor tells in detail.
The medics managed to stabilize the wounded soldier's condition, and then he was sent to the hospital. Now the Marine is under treatment, his life is not threatened.
- He will eventually start walking and will live a full life, - Roman assured.
Concluding the conversation, he drew attention to the fact that inhumane tactics of the AFU makes it difficult to provide early surgical care. Medics are forced to abandon the usual medical tents and modules, and burrow underground, setting up hospitals in basements, where the dampness is not favorable for a speedy recovery.
- Despite all the difficulties and dangers we face, none of us regrets that we have replaced the bright wards of hospitals with medical stations in dugouts and hospitals, which are constantly under fire. Saving the lives and health of our guys is the honorable fulfillment of the Hippocratic Oath we took," Roman says. - In my opinion, the experience gained during the SWO is tremendous. Many operations are practiced to the point of automatism.
The price of first aid in frontline areas is the lives of soldiers. And the medics here do everything they can to save them.
