History of Izyum Central Hospital: from past times to the present

Each building has its own interesting founding story, which develops into the present, and the city of Izyum is no exception. One of these buildings is the municipal non-profit enterprise of the Izyum City Council "Central City Hospital of the Pishchanskaya Bogometyri".

The history of this hospital is quite interesting, it is closely connected with the development and formation of the Izyum region. The first mention of the existence of a medical institution in the city of Izyum is an archival document, the "Report" of the Izyum City Gan, the Kharkov Governor I.I. Bakhtin, dated March 3, 1812, on the creation of a city hospital. The document, dated 1822, is a list of retired and practicing medical officials in the Slobodsk province. According to archival documents stored in the Kharkov State Archive, in 1826 the construction of a new district hospital for 50 beds was started in the city of Izyum, and it was completed in 1852.

And then came the terrible forty-first year. The word “War” made its adjustments to the fate of people. Already on the third day after the start of the war, nurses and doctors met the first wounded at the Izyumsky railway station.

Despite the fact that there were no medicines, instruments, places for the sick, the hospitals, which were located in the hospital buildings, the buildings of secondary school No. 4, in all the buildings of the city center, continued to work. And the war continued.

The lightly wounded were even accommodated in the private sector, as well as in army tents right in the garden. They brought wounded from six armies to our city. Under explosions, shelling, doctors saved people's lives, not noticing neither day nor night, struggling with the fatigue that was piling up. Thanks to their efforts, many wounded managed to survive..

Although the hospital was called Izyumsky, it served the Savinsky, Petrovsky and Borovsky districts. The inpatient department was designed for 150 beds: therapeutic – 30 surgical – 40, infectious – 45, neurological – 20 and 15 children's beds. The staff included: chief physician, deputy chief physician, heads of therapeutic, surgical, infectious, neurological and children's departments; ENT, ophthalmologist, school doctor, radiologist, oncologist, dental technician, 2 emergency doctors, 3 dentists and 6 district doctors.

Only in 1958 did the medical institution become known as the Izyum District Hospital, and a new X-ray machine was installed, and since 1962 all departments were united into a district medical association, which also included, in addition to rural medical services, a 12-bed dermatology dispensary and a 60-bed tuberculosis dispensary.

And then the hospital only flourished, new devices appeared, new medical departments, laboratories were opened , etc.

Since 2003, large-scale changes have taken place, namely, the Izyum Central District Hospital began to be called the Izyum Central City Hospital.

Before the start of the full-scale war, the hospital operated normally. But in 2022, it was destroyed by Russian shelling in the spring of 2022. 

During the occupation, doctors heroically saved people's lives in extremely difficult conditions. The large-scale reconstruction of the complex worth over 1 billion hryvnias was stopped and the contract with the contractor was terminated in August 2026 due to lack of funding.

Among the facilities that the editorial team reported on was the Central City Hospital of Our Lady of Pishchansk in Izyum, which was partially destroyed in 2022, partially restored with donor and budget funds in subsequent years, and which was planned to be extensively reconstructed by the end of 2027 for over one billion hryvnias.

An example is the story of Yuri Kuznetsov, a trauma surgeon with 28 years of experience. When the occupiers temporarily occupied Izyum, Yuri equipped an operating room in the basement of the hospital using two trolleys on wheels. He lived in the institution for six months, never leaving it for a moment, he managed to save 400 lives and give birth to four women. Once he went on duty, not knowing that he would return home in 6 months.

"The number of victims became more and more, they even lay on the stairs. Pharmacies were robbed, broken, we looked for medicines even in garbage cans, it was impossible to move around the streets of the city, as they were shot through with mortar rounds." Therefore, ambulance doctors brought the wounded, making their way past the houses.

Yuri Kuznetsov also remembers the moment the city was liberated.

"There was a military hospital of the occupiers in Izyum. We went in, and there was no equipment or people there. It became so quiet and peaceful in our hearts. We understood - the city was liberated.

Unfortunately, since the reconstruction of the hospital was stopped, its development history slowed down. The contract was terminated, there are no materials, the project has completely "frozen", and it is unknown when it will be restored. We believe in a better future for the city of Izyum.

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