13 years of work of the Jewish Medical Center in Dnipro

Exactly thirteen years ago, on February 4, 2012, the Jewish Medical Center “JMC” was opened in Dnipro, which during this time has become one of the leading multidisciplinary clinics in the city, based on the principles of high-quality, modern, evidence-based medicine, providing services to tens of thousands of residents of the city and the region.

Then, in February 2012, JMC was a small outpatient outpatient department providing only basic medical services, but from the very beginning it strived to provide maximum quality and very quickly gained a reputation as an advanced and reputable medical institution.

“At the initial stage, JMC had several doctors, two or three nurses, a basic laboratory, but even then we were distinguished by a fundamentally different approach to the provision of medical services, a desire for innovation and alignment with the best world standards and practices, which was greatly facilitated by our fruitful cooperation with Harvard Medical School and the Jewish community of Greater Boston,” recalls the CEO of JMC, MD, PhD. Professor Alexander Rodinsky, “a lot has changed in thirteen years: we employ over 140 highly qualified specialists, in addition to the therapeutic department for adults and children and the Department of Family Medicine”; we have modern surgery with inpatient and outpatient departments; anesthesiology service; rehabilitation department, one of the best in Ukraine; we are proud of our laboratory and diagnostic work; we have an oncology department with surgery, chemotherapy and palliative support; as well as a mental health center for children and adults – the list can be long, because we have become a modern medical center, respected and widely known, which enjoys authority and trust both among citizens and among specialists in Ukraine and abroad.”

Two events had a particular impact on the fame and authority of the JMC – the opening of the clinic branch at the Menorah Center in 2017 and its role in the vaccination campaign during the Covid-19 pandemic. “Vaccination has been one of the priorities of our center from the very beginning,” continues Oleksandr Rodinsky, “we were the first in Ukraine to start the practice of vaccination against the human papillomavirus, which leads to cancer, which was already a world practice, and for us rather exotic. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we, in cooperation with the regional center, vaccinated over a hundred thousand people with high-quality vaccines and this had a great, both medical and psychological, effect, because people came to the Menorah, got acquainted with the Jewish community, the doors of which, like our center, are open to everyone. I considered and still consider vaccination and prevention to be a priority in medicine in general and in our center in particular – it is much more correct and effective to prevent diseases than to treat them.”

In recent years, a surgical department has been opened on the basis of the administrative building of the Golden Rose Central Synagogue complex, and the first JMC building on the left bank, where an ultra-modern rehabilitation center is now located, has been miraculously transformed.

“We have achieved a lot and will continue to do so in the field of treatment and the provision of quality medical services to those who need them,” says Professor Rodinsky, “but we strive, first of all, to be a “clinic of a healthy person”, to change our society in such a way that people do not go to the doctor when the disease has already begun, but undergo regular checks, examinations, tests, of course, were vaccinated, because preventive treatment is much simpler, cheaper, helps people to live better and not only suffer themselves, but also not to bring suffering to their loved ones. We really want to help people not to recover, but to avoid the disease. Well, if the disease does happen, we will do everything to restore health. We are now only thirteen years old – this is the age of bar mitzvah and we have a lot of work ahead of us in order to help people and thereby change the world for the better.”