Recommendations of the Ukrainian Renal Disaster Relief Committee of the Ukrainian Association of Nephrologists and Kidney Transplant Specialists regarding medical care to kidney disease patients during the war

Abstract

Abstract. The occurrence of an emergency situation (ES) forced international (ISN, EDTA/ERA) and national (Turkey) nephrological associations to establish the Renal Disaster Relief Task Force, which is primarily concerned with the treatment of patients with acute kidney injury and end-stage renal disease requiring dialysis. The war started by the RF is putting the Ukrainian state, Ukrainian society, and the healthcare system in the catastrophic ES. Under these circumstances, all nephrological patients became one of the most vulnerable categories of patients. To provide immediate support in solving problems within the Ukrainian Association of Nephrologists and Kidney Transplant Specialists (UAN&KTS), the Ukrainian Renal Disaster Relief Committee (URDRC) has been established. One of the most important tasks was to form a group of experts to develop recommendations for specialized medical care for kidney patients in wartime.  According to the experts, the key person for this type of medical care is the leading nephrologist in the region or city. He/she establishes a local Renal Disaster Relief Committee (LRDRC) and decides through horizontal (with other LRDRC) or vertical (with UAN &KTS) collaboration, using available communication tools, on the problems that arise; the most appropriate tool is the Viber platform "Nephrology. Dialysis. Transplantation". In this way, a network without administrative subordination and a non-hierarchical functional system was created, which, on the one hand, functions according to similar working principles, but, on the other hand, may differ in terms of LRDRC composition, communication methods, and more. The LRDRC divides all patients into three groups and provides work preparation measures before, during and after the cancellation of ES.