For a decade, The Pirogov First Volunteer Mobile Hospital (PDMSh) volunteers have been rescuing and treating wounded on the front lines. Hundreds of PDMSh volunteer medics have cared for and saved thousands of military and civilian lives.
PDMSh is the biggest non-governmental project in Ukraine, bringing civilian medics to provide medical care in combat zones. We started saving the wounded and sick in the frontline towns and villages of Donbas in the first year of the war, 2014. Since then, we've been working tirelessly wherever the fighting rages on, offering critical care to those caught in the crossfire.
We are convinced that our unique blend of volunteer enthusiasm and flexibility with the systematic and strategic governmental approach makes the PDMSh a one-of-a-kind project that lays the foundation for the future of accessible and high-quality mobile medicine in Ukraine. We believe that PDMSh is a sprout of a new Ukraine, which is to be the pride of those who paid the price of their lives to engender its independent, better future.
Watch the PresentationFrom the first days of the full-scale russian invasion, PDMSh deployed in Kyiv and other cities of Ukraine, mobilising its medics and resources more broadly to fight the russian occupiers and treat wounded Ukrainian defenders, as well as civilians. PDMSh’s stabilisation posts and medical teams currently operate in Donetsk Oblast’s. Over ten years at the front, PDMSh has transformed from a cohort of daredevils into a group of the legendary russia-Ukraine War fighters.
A Facebook post by Gennadiy Druzenko that started it all.
A couple of dozens of medics to help Maidan.
PDMSh’s first mission sets off for the front.
PDMSh’s work during the Debaltseve Operation.
The signing of a Memorandum between PDMSh, the Health Ministry, the Defense Ministry, and the General Staff of the Armed Forces.
PDMSh deployment in Kyiv during the full-scale invasion.
Setting up PDMSh bases in Eastern Ukraine.
Over 2,000 patients per month — nearly 20,000 in seven months.
From imminent PDMSh shutdown to its resumed activities.
PDMSh is a seed of the new Ukraine, a nation we hold in honour before those who gave their invaluable lives for it. We have the ambition to become a global leader that sets world standards for the efficiency of providing medical care in armed conflicts and natural/technogenic disasters
PDMSh was founded in 2014 to provide medical assistance in the areas of the Anti-Terrorist Operation, designated the Joint Forces Operation since May 2018. Before russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, our volunteer medics provided timely and qualified medical care to more than 56,000 patients. As of March 2024, we assisted a total of over 85,000 military and civilian victims of russian aggression, including 32,000 during the two years of the full-scale war. We continue our activities at the front, evacuating, providing medical care at stabilisation posts, and healing.
We are building a PDMSh Training and Rehabilitation Centre. The facility will comprise a training centre for volunteer doctors going to the combat zone and a rehabilitation centre for the wounded. The TRC will strengthen the PDMSh activities and help stabilise and reintegrate the injured into a peaceful life.
PDMSh will never match the medical capabilities of the Armed Forces and other components of the Defense Forces of Ukraine in terms of manpower and equipment, nor does it aim to. We are just one of the drops that make up the raging river of defenders of Ukraine, yet a unique one. In spite of the lack of governmental funding, we have the best mobile IC evacuation units, top-notch medical equipment, and highly motivated volunteers. PDMSh is setting a real-time precedent of committed, high-quality medical care on the frontlines — our key mission.
Everything PDMSh has is the result of our own efforts and the support of our donors, benefactors, and ordinary caring people. Without government funding, from scratch. If it has worked out with PDMSh, then it’s possible!
After all, we need a critical mass of “assembly points” such as #PDMSh to build a fundamentally better Ukraine worthy of those who gave their lives for it.
Dedicated and daring teams ready to experiment, design, and implement the future.
Patients have received medical treatment from PDMSh volunteer medics since 2014.
Volunteer PDMSh medics have provided medical care in many combat areas.
Locations in which PDMSh volunteer medics have worked since 2014.
Years we have been at war.
PDMSh is a volunteer civilian medic formation established in 2014. The namesake charity fund appeared later when it became clear that the russian-Ukrainian war would be a long one, and PDMSh had grown to the point where it needed to create its own official "wallet". So our fund, "Mykola Pyrogov FVMH Charity", is not an intermediary one that accumulates privately sourced financing, buys something with them and transfers it to military units or other beneficiaries. Instead, by donating to PDMS, you directly support volunteer medics — every donation you make allows us to save someone's life.
PDMSh was founded in 2014 by Gennadiy Druzenko and Yevgeny Naishtetik, who met on the Maidan on December 1, 2014, when makeshift medical teams were formed at the call of the former. These teams were "baptised by fire" on that same day in clashes with the Berkut (a special reinforced police formation) on Bankova Street. Among the first PDMS volunteers was Oleg Shyba, who, in August 2015, became one of the founders of the charity fund "Mykola Pyrogov FVMH Charity". The composition of the fund's participants has changed several times and currently includes Ihor Buivol, Gennadiy Druzenko, Svitlana Druzenko, Tetiana Samoylenko and Oleh Shyba.
To join PDMSh, submit your application: pdmsh.ua/apply. With the needs of the given moment considered, the PDMSh HR manager will contact you and provide further instructions.
PDMS exists solely on donations from individuals and private companies. For more than nine years of work on the front line, PDMS has never received budget funds from either the Ukrainian or foreign governments. In the course of our history, we have implemented several small grant projects with financing from the United Nations and the European Commission. One of the main sources of funding for PDMSh before the start of the big war was the "Icons on 'Ammo Boxes' project.