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Continuity of opiate substitution treatment

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Opiate substitution treatment in Ukraine requires showing up at the clinic every day

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When a patient is hospitalized at another medical facility, he no longer has access to OST

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Only a few cities in Ukraine have a functioning system of delivering OST to a patient in the hospital

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In all other cases, OST patients are forced to choose between treating their addiction and treating their TB, pneumonia...

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What would you choose?

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Igor. Spleen

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I am an OST patient

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in the city of Donetsk.

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I got into a car accident

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and had my spleen removed.

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I had to leave the intensive care unit

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and come to the OST clinic every day.

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At the end, my stitches came apart

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and I had to get stitched up all over again.

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And it's not just me, most of the patients

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have to weather their illnesses on their feet -

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all because if hospitalized,

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they won't be able to come

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to the OST clinic for their medication.

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Lena. Gangrene

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I have gangrene of the shin bone.

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I have very large wounds,

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I need skin grafting.

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They removed my phlegmon

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but because of à bacterial infection

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I now need to have the skin necrosis removed.

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Then the skin needs heal again.

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Soon I'll have to go in for surgery.

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I don't know how I'm going to come

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to the OST clinic. It's really challenging...

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really hard.

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Because I won't be able

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to get OST in the hospital,

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I've been putting off the surgery.

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And if I keep putting it off,

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they will have to cut off my leg.

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We are all mortal

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In order for this to work,

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we have to realize that

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this is the reality of our lives.

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Decision-makers at various levels need

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to be thinking about it.

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If we are talking about a life-saving measure,

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it will happen sooner or later.

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However, the patients need it

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to happen today, now.

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Every person is mortal.

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"We are going to solve this problem"

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Of all the people I know how important

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is this issue with continuity of OST in hospitals.

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OST patients have many chronic conditions

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and very serious opportunistic infections.

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Because of this,

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lots of people have already passed away

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since the program had started.

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To solve this issue

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we are primarily relying on ourselves.

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Because no one else seems to care.

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We are the only ones who care.

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This is our problem,

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we know it inside out and we are going to solve it.

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Any OST program has to have a functioning system for delivering buprenorphine and methadone to OST patients in the hospitals.

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Help us solve this problem

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Start working with us

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Don't let us die.

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Continuety of opiate substitution treatment