«Twice I had to take birth in a car,» ambulance doctors complain about the condition of the Ochakiv highway

The road between Ochakiv and the village of Kutsurub. Photo: Oleksandra Matiienko

Emergency medical workers of Ochakiv Hospital complain about the condition of the road T-15-07 Mykolaiv — Parutine — Ochakiv, in particular, the section between Ochakiv and the village of Kutsurub. Doctors twice had to give birth in an ambulance, as they did not have time to get to the hospital in time.

They told the journalists NikVesti about this.

It should be noted that the T-15-07 road was repaired as part of the «Major construction» program. Repairs began in 2019 in the village of Parutyne. In 2021, builders removed the road surface on the section between Ochakiv and Kutsurub. Due to the start of a full-scale war in February 2022, work had to be stopped.

«The Ochakiv-Kutsurub section was constantly deteriorating, I remember two years before the war, we had a call to Ivanivka, and we drove very slowly. Once we had a call that we needed to get to very quickly, and I counted the time: we drove 13 minutes from Ochakiv to Kutsurub, although we should have reached it in 2 minutes,» says emergency doctor Halyna Kocherezhnykova.

This is how the section of road T15-07 looks today at the entrance to the village of Kutsurub. Photo: Oleksandra Matiienko

This is how the section of road T15-07 looks today at the entrance to the village of Kutsurub. Photo: Oleksandra Matiienko

This is how the section of road T15-07 looks today at the entrance to the village of Kutsurub. Photo: Oleksandra Matiienko

This was before the start of repair work, but today, according to doctors, the arrival time of the ambulance has increased.

«We had to take birth in a car twice precisely because of the condition of the road. It is impossible to even put a dropper on the patient. Once, after the shelling, we were taking away a wounded 14-year-old boy, it was terrible agony when we carried him along this road with arterial bleeding,» said the woman.

According to medics, when the weather is dry, it is possible to go around the accident area on a field road. However, the travel time for a call is almost not reduced.

«Machines break down, the time of patient delivery increases. We also drive hard through the field, the time is almost the same, but it is worse for the car. There were cases when we drove around the field, but this is possible only in dry weather,» said ambulance driver Oleksandr.

Doctors say that potholes on the road have recently been covered with stones, but this does not improve the situation much. The ambulance driver notices that stones fly away and can damage other cars.

Potholes were covered with stone. Photo: Oleksandra Matiienko

Potholes were covered with stone. Photo: Oleksandra Matiienko

Residents of the village of Kutsurub also complain about the condition of the road. They note that if earlier they could reach the city in 10 minutes, today this time has increased to 30-40 minutes.

«Earlier, the road was also bad, but now it is simply impossible to pass. The road was broken by cars, washed out by the rain, a solid pit. Earlier, we could get to Ochakiv in 10 minutes, although the road was also in bad condition, and now we drive 40 minutes,»  said local resident Oleksandra Matiienko.

NikVesti turned to the Infrastructure Restoration Service in the Mykolaiv region, on whose balance sheet the T15-07 road is located, to find out whether work on the restoration of the road is planned, but they have not yet received an answer.

We will remind that in October 2020, the first section of the road T-15-07 «Mykolaiv — Parutyne — Ochakiv — recreation center Chornomorka», which passes through the villages of Stara Bohdanivka, Kozyrka and Parutyne, was repaired in Mykolaiv region in October 2020. In that year, 4 sections of the T-15-07 highway were repaired. Tenders for the development of project documentation were held for other sections of the route.

It should be noted that recently the Service for Reconstruction and Development of Infrastructure in the Mykolaiv region announced a tender for the capital repair of 5 kilometers of the state road P-55 Odesa — Voznesensk — Novyi Buh for 507.3 million hryvnias.

Also earlier, the Service for Reconstruction and Development of Infrastructure in the Mykolaiv region announced a tender for the maintenance of the Varvarivskyi bridge until the end of 2025. By December 20, 2025, the winner of the tender must repair the bridge for 57.2 million hryvnias.