Ukraine: A hospital appointment in Mykolaiv, and no way to reach it

The couple lived in Novokairy, a village on the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast that was shelled for months. During one attack, they were sheltering in their basement when part of the house above them was destroyed. A piece of shrapnel pierced a nearby gas cylinder, which did not ignite. “We sat in the basement and waited, hoping that the shelling would stop and that we would be able to stay,” they recall. In October 2025, the couple left their home and moved to a village in the northern part of Kherson Oblast. “Here, it is relatively calm. Nothing compares to what we experienced there,” Liudmyla says.

A referral she could not act on

Each of them receives UAH 2,000 (approximately EUR 39) a month in displacement assistance on top of their pensions, which leaves little room for unexpected expenses. During a medical consultation in in August this year, a specialist found a growth that required further assessment and recommended surgery at a hospital in Mykolaiv. But getting there presented a problem. Public transport from their village was limited, and hiring a car would cost more than the couple could afford. “We need to get there and back. I have never been to Mykolaiv, and I do not know how to get to the hospital,” Liudmyla said at the time. For the couple, the difficulty was not finding medical care but finding a way to reach it.

Making the journey possible

Tetiana, a Protection Assistant with DRC, regularly meets displaced people in a similar situation. “Displacement can make accessing essential services much more difficult, particularly for older people. Limited income and transport options can prevent people from reaching the care they need,” she says. With funding from the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund, DRC arranged and covered the cost of transport for
Liudmyla and Vasyl to travel to Mykolaiv and return home. In the beginning of September, Liudmyla visited the city for the first time. She attended her hospital appointment and returned home that same evening. Following the assessment, the doctor recommended that she undergo the procedure in autumn, when cooler weather would help the wound heal properly. As of mid-2026, about 3.9 million people remained displaced within Ukraine, and more than half of displaced households had cut back on healthcare spending. For older people living on a pension and an allowance, the cost of a journey to another city can decide whether a referral leads to treatment.“Without the transport, I would not have gone. I would have stayed at home and kept putting it off,” Liudmyla says.