In the context of war in Ukraine, a simultaneous emergency struck following the breach of the Kakhovka dam on 6 June 2023 and acutely stressed the health system. Extensive flooding, water shortages, drought and widespread environmental damage in several regions occurred. Over 4,000 people were evacuated from their homes and several hospitals transferred patients elsewhere.

To explore if the HR health surge needs of the flood affected health facilities in Kherson, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia were met over the 6-month period.

The Ukrainian Scientific and Practical Center for Emergency Medical Care and Disaster Medicine (CDMU) of the Ministry of Health (MoH) of Ukraine, centrally managed the recruitment, onboarding and deployment of all HR health staff and surge requests over the 6 months project implementation period. Several meetings were held with the MoH regarding national regulation and a mechanism to deploy healthcare workers was established.

A total of 340 healthcare staff (216 doctors and 124 nurses) were identified through the Regional Departments of Health (according to MoH Order. 1597) or through self-referrals. In order of demand, 165 requests (120 doctors, 45 nurses) were submitted by healthcare facilities from (1) Kherson, (2) Mykolaiv and (3) Zaporizhzhia. All requests were met, aside from certain specialisms (i.e. neurosurgeon). The length of time for surge ranged from 3 to 6 months.

Despite the lack of regulatory documents and mechanism for engaging and deploying healthcare workers, the surge needs were successfully met for the Kakhovka dam breach emergency, although future efforts are required to attract certain specialisms to deploy.