The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine does not position itself as a defender of the Ukrainian field of tactical medicine
Over the course of many years of independence in Ukraine, as is known, there was a systematic destruction of the military-industrial complex: factories producing military equipment and weapons were closed, relevant contracts were broken, stocks of equipment and ammunition were thoughtlessly sold off and reduced. The consequence of these processes is the current situation, when Ukraine has found itself completely dependent on Western partners for the supply of weapons and financial assistance, who are in no hurry to provide this. Each delay, as we know, leads to the loss of territories, settlements and, most importantly, the death of military personnel and civilians.
But, despite this, the Ukrainian defense industry is gradually coming to its senses and developing. However, in the field of domestic production of tactical medicine and medical equipment for the front, processes are taking place that cannot be called anything other than the deliberate destruction by some officials of the Ministry of Defense of an entire segment of the domestic industry.
The war posed many challenges for the state, one of which was providing the Ukrainian defense forces with high-quality tactical medicine. And this task was partially accomplished solely thanks to volunteers who raise funds and independently purchase and supply takmed to the army, as well as private manufacturers who began to produce domestic analogues of tactical medicine, creating a domestic industry practically from scratch. It turned out that our country has powerful potential for its own production of all components of a soldier’s individual first aid kit.
The domestic takmed industry produces a whole range of products that have long been used at the front, starting with more than three types of hemostatic tourniquets from various manufacturers, a whole range of Ukrainian hemostatic hemostatic bandages, nasopharyngeal tubes, occlusive stickers produced in Ukraine, bandages and other means.
It is important to emphasize that we are not talking about single products, but about several alternative versions of each component. This allows you to choose the optimal solutions taking into account quality, personal preferences of doctors and budget. This also stimulates competition between Ukrainian manufacturers, which, in turn, forces them to constantly improve the quality of goods.
The ability to independently provide oneself with high-quality tactical medicine is a unique opportunity that not every country, even a developed one, has. Moreover, not every NATO member country has its own tactical medicine industry and is capable of providing the army with medical supplies produced by its own manufacturers.
Ukrainian manufacturers of tactical medicine are now developing dynamically, but, unfortunately, it seems to us, there is a risk of losing this unique potential. And here's the thing.
The public has repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that the Department of Health of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, which is headed by Oksana Sukhorukova, is allegedly determined to completely exclude Ukrainian manufacturers of takmeda products from the procurement process for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and to limit itself exclusively to foreign-made products, hiding the intention under the rhetoric of transition to NATO standards and well-organized public events.
Despite the fact that such powers were granted to this department with the adoption of the Law on the organization of an appropriate level of medical support for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the powers to destroy the domestic takmed industry and discriminate against Ukrainian manufacturers are not and are not spelled out in this law. However, the Department of Oksana Sukhorukova, as well as the Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Rustem Umerov Natalya Kalmykova, so far quietly, without creating unnecessary noise, are prescribing government procurement, as it seems to us, exclusively for foreign goods. And this is a question not only of expediency and correctness, but also of transparency of such actions.
Recently, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, while at the Asian Security Summit, called on the world's leading defense companies and technology giants to invest in weapons production in Ukraine and stated that the creation of a powerful military industry is a matter of national security for Ukraine. According to the Minister of Defense, “our focus is production in Ukraine or attracting Ukrainian companies to cooperate with these global giants.”
But, in our opinion, these statements by Umerov are very different from what the Department of Health of the Ministry of Defense subordinate to him and his deputy Natalya Kalmykova are doing, trying to destroy the Ukrainian production of takmeda products, making it impossible to supply these products to the Armed Forces, giving priority to foreign manufacturers.
Instead of developing and supporting manufacturers of tactical medicine, the military department, in our opinion, makes military medicine completely dependent on supplies from abroad.
And given that Western analogues are on average two to three times more expensive and the Ukrainian economy is in an extremely difficult state, the question arises: does the Ministry of Defense even want to spend budget money economically, and does it set itself such a task?
What can we say if we still have a significant part of the front-line needs for first aid kits and supplies provided by volunteers, essentially doing the work that the state should do. And officials, instead of fulfilling their function, are thinking about how to prescribe regulations so that they can purchase foreign products at exorbitant prices, rather than Ukrainian ones.
The Ministry of Defense, unfortunately, despite the beautiful words, does not position itself as a defender of the Ukrainian takmed industry.
As world experience shows, domestic production stimulates the economy, domestic companies pay taxes, which finance defense and the same salaries of officials, stimulates innovation and enables Ukrainian companies to compete in the world market.
Taking into account existing developments and well-established production, Ukraine could generally become one of the world leaders in this field. But it seems to us that officials do not need this.
The Ministry of Defense is doing everything so that Ukraine, with beautiful words about the transition to NATO standards, loses this unique opportunity.
