The doctor who cleared the rubble after the attack on Okhmatdyt was awarded the Order for Courage, III class. This was reported by Komersant ukrainskyi
referring to the post of the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the AR of Crimea on the facebook page on Facebook.
Oleg Golubchenko, a paediatric maxillofacial surgeon at the Department of Reconstructive and Plastic Microsurgery at Okhmatdyt Hospital, received the award from the President of Ukraine.
“We need to know our heroes who save our children and our future despite all the dangers and threats, who, even during the Russian terrorist attack on our capital, steadfastly and courageously help to save people and overcome the consequences of aggression against our country,” the post about the award reads.
What is known about doctor Oleh Holubchenko
The doctor studied at the Crimean State Medical University, but in 2014, due to Russian aggression and the occupation of the peninsula, he was forced to leave Crimea and moved to Kyiv.
In 2016, he graduated from Bogomolets National Medical University with a degree in dentistry. In 2018, he completed his specialisation at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the Shupik National Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education, specialising in Surgical Dentistry. Since 2016, he has been working at the Children’s Maxillofacial Department of the Ohmatdyt Hospital.
On the afternoon of 8 July, the largest children’s hospital in Ukraine, Okhmatdyt, was the target of a Russian missile attack on the capital. The footage of the tragedy spread around the world, and the next morning almost all the world’s media covered Russia’s atrocities against Ukrainian children. The photo of doctor Oleg Golubchenko, wearing bloody medical clothes and dismantling the rubble of the hospital where he worked, was memorable to everyone. When the enemy missile hit, the surgeon was performing surgery on a five-month-old baby. The medical staff were injured by the debris and covered the child with their hands. As soon as they were sure that the child was fine and transferred to another hospital to complete the operation, Oleh, who had a back injury, rushed to clear the rubble to free his colleagues and patients.
A photo of Oleh Holubenko helping to clear the rubble in a bloody medical uniform was published by the world’s leading media. Russian propagandists even claimed that the photo was fake and that the man had been deliberately doused in blood for a “good shot”.
