Volyn Regional Children's Territorial Medical Center

The Volyn Regional Children's Territorial Medical Center (VRCTMC) is a treatment-and-diagnostic and methodological center rendering specialized medical help to the children of the Volyn Region.

The Center includes Regional Children's Clinical Hospital for 390 patients (opened in 1987) with its Neonatologic Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Regional Consultative Out-patient Clinic, and Sanatorium for Children with Parents "Dachny" for 100 patients including rehabilitation facility for children with neural system lesions and invalid-children.

The VRCTMC staff numbers 1027 people, with 146 physicians and 447 nurses and nurse's aides are among them.

Annually the Center ensures medical treatment to more than 12,000 in-patients of 23 different profiles, about 50,000 children receive specialized consultative help in the Regional Out-patient Clinic. There are 26 treatment-and-diagnostic departments and services, schools for children with diabetes and bronchial asthma, and training facility for young mothers working effectively in the VRCTMC.

Sole in the region, the Medical Genetic Office carries out counseling of patients and families as to: inheritance prognosis, prenatal diagnosis of birth defects and chromosomal diseases, mass screening of newborns for phenilketonuria (PKU) and other hereditary diseases, and care and follow-up of patients with hereditary diseases. There is a functioning registration system of birth defects in all delivery hospitals of the region. The Center is working on the introduction of the program of genetic monitoring of birth defects. Laboratory facilities are equipped with modern biochemical, immunological and bacteriological analysers.

Equipment of NICU with modern machinery for transportation and fostering of newborns, introduction of contemporary scientific technologies, professionalism of medical staff allowed to reduce significantly the indices of infant mortality, early childhood mortality, and to double the survival rate of very prematurely born children.

The Volyn Regional Children's Territorial Medical Center is a center rendering specialized surgical help to Volyn children. Here they are trying to solve problems of early diagnosis of birth defects in newborns and their surgical correction. There were 4 successful surgical interventions carried out on open heart. The number of surgical interventions on urinary tracts, auditory, ocular and abdomen organs is increasing.

Every year nearly 1,000 children undertake rehabilitation therapy in the medical and social rehabilitation center at the "Dachne" sanatorium. Because of the specificity of rendering medical help to children with central nervous system lesions, the rehabilitation center, in addition to its regular medical staff has psychologists, speech therapists, educators-defectologists, rehabilitologists. The most contemporary methods of rehabilitation therapy are being introduced into practice.

The Volyn Regional Children's Territorial Medical Center takes part in several international programs. Among them, at the Ukrainian-American Health Center, open since 1999, the following is carried out:

monitoring of birth defects in children by Ukrainian-American Birth Defects Program;
development of the Registry of all newborns;
during 1999-2002 screening of thyroid cancer in children from radiation polluted areas was conducted (in accordance with international agreement "About cooperation between governments of Ukraine and USA in the field of screening of cancer and other diseases of thyroid gland in Ukraine after the Chornobyl catastrophe"); 34690 children were examined, 17% of them had thyroid gland pathology.

Presence in the center of modern computer equipment, access to Internet allows performing transfer of digital images of children with birth defects to USA with the aim of urgent genetic consultation. Since 1992 the Volyn Pediatric Department of D. Halytsky Lviv Medical University of Post Diploma Education is functioning on the basis of the Regional Children's Clinical Hospital.

On April 15, 1999 the Regional Center of Child Endocrynology was opened at the Volyn Regional Children's Territorial Medical Center.

In early 2000 the creation of the Centralized Department of Clinical Microbiology was finished. Now a wide range of tests is carried out in the laboratory of medical genetics, immunology, endocrynology and genetic biochemistry.

Among actual problems of improvement of child medical care in the region is creation of the Volyn Perinatal Center as well as futher strengthening of material and technical basis of the Rehabilitation Center for children with central neural system lesions and invalid children.

Since 2002 Regional Center of Family Planning and Human Reproduction began working in the Volyn Regional Children's Territorial Medical Center.

In 2005 we opened Laparoscopy Diagnosis and Treatment Department and Eye Microsurgery Center having contemporary equipment and techniques.