"After the injury that cost me my left leg, I was full of energy and confidence, thinking I would need just a couple of months for treatment and rehab before returning to the military. But I was mistaken, as I didn’t realize that rehabilitation and prosthetics are long-term processes," told former serviceman Mykhailo Bakalyuk about his journey to recovery after losing a limb.
At the Rehabilitation Labyrinths Communication Meet-up, organized by the Patients of Ukraine Charitable Foundation together with ISAR Ednannia at the Home of Civil Society, Mykhailo Bakaliuk shared his experience of recovery thanks to charitable organizations and the state prosthetics system. His conclusion on where and how best to undergo prosthetics is quite unexpected.
"Сharitable foundations provide prosthetic components of their choice, based on what they have and can afford financially. Then I learned that the state prosthetics program allows you to choose your prosthetic center, components, and prosthetist, so you can find the prosthesis that best suits your needs. I understood that I had nothing to lose by opting for the state program, and it turned out to be the right decision," shares the former serviceman.
Anastasiia Boichuk, the strategic lead of the War Trauma Rehabilitation Project, explained that about 80 prosthetic companies are operating in Ukraine, with the average waiting time for a prosthetic device being around three months. Meanwhile, Olena Tsymbaliuk, the logistics and operations director at ProtezHub, noted that the state allocates up to 856,000 UAH for leg prosthetics and up to 503,000 UAH for arm prosthetics. Moreover, military personnel are fully covered for prosthetic devices costing up to 2 million UAH.
This event is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) within the Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity implemented by ISAR Ednannia in partnership with the Ukrainian Center of Independent Political Research (UCIPR) and Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law (CEDEM).
