‘We firmly believe in reconstruction, and Ukraine is an important market’
Ukraine needs medical professionals. Together with Siemens Healthineers, GIZ is training urgently needed radiology specialists.
Radiology is an important element of health care in Ukraine. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and Siemens Healthineers are working together to train specialists. In this interview, Hagen Weissapfel, Head of Education and Service Emerging Markets at Siemens Healthineers, explains why the company applied to cooperate through the develoPPP funding programme. GIZ is implementing the programme on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
How many participants will there be when the training starts, and how will you run it amid war conditions?
The training is aimed at 100 people with nursing training and an additional 20 with in-depth experience in radiology. We will be training the radiology specialists to become trainers who can then share their knowledge throughout the country in the future. The Ministry of Health of Ukraine will be partnering with GIZ to coordinate the selection of the participants. The training programme will begin in mid-2026. Parallel to the training, we are setting up an online learning platform that the trainers can continue to use later on. We have also developed simulator training that allows participants to practice using the radiology equipment.
How did the idea for the training programme come about?
Naturally, we have also trained the users of our equipment in the past. In doing so we realised that the specialists in Ukraine lack in-depth knowledge. They cannot use the equipment to produce images that are suitable in a clinical setting. However, doctors need such images to make a sound diagnosis. Demand is growing rapidly, not least because of the high number of war injuries.
How is Siemens Healthineers harnessing the situation?
We see high demand in Ukraine and we want to create a market. This is possible only if there are enough specialists available who can operate these complex medical devices. That’s why we decided to set up a manufacturer-independent training programme. Of course, our competitors will also benefit from this. However, we have the advantage of being the first to offer our services on the market. We firmly believe in the reconstruction of the country, and Ukraine is already an important market. So we applied to the develoPPP programme with our project idea. Financing was organised quickly, too. We are covering half of the costs and BMZ is covering the other half.
Why did you bring GIZ on board?
We want to firmly establish the training in Ukraine. This requires local contacts we can trust. GIZ was a huge support to us in this area. It arranged cooperation with the Ministry of Health. In addition, it has established contact with multiple hospitals and vocational colleges in various regions of Ukraine. Together with our partner Medical Center – University of Freiburg, we are planning a programme that is tailored to the country. The Ukrainian Ministry then intends to offer the training as a Bachelor’s degree course. This is important if we are to remedy the shortage of radiology specialists in the long term. Without GIZ, we would not have been able to establish this foundation.
