WHO has delivered 11 ambulances to Ukraine as part of its ongoing humanitarian efforts to save lives and reconstruct the health system in the country.

 

More than 30 ambulances have now been donated to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine by WHO and its partners since 24 February 2022. More first aid ambulances are set to be delivered later this year.

 

“These ambulances will save lives and go a step further in ensuring that timely access to emergency care during the war is strengthened and maintained,” said Dr Jarno Habicht, WHO Representative in Ukraine, at a handover ceremony alongside the Minister of Health of Ukraine, Dr Viktor Liashko.

 

“These ambulances ensure that first aid can reach patients who need medical transportation. As of today, WHO has verified over 500 attacks against health care in Ukraine and many of those attacks have affected the medical transport capacity of the country’s health system. Our ongoing support to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine to empower health-care workers and rebuild the health-care system will continue amid the war.”

 

The first aid ambulances will be handed over to the Lviv Emergency Medical Service Department and will then be distributed throughout Ukraine.

 

The Minister of Health emphasized that support from international partners is a powerful tool in sustaining the country’s entire medical system during wartime.

 

“Emergency health-care workers are the first ones to arrive at the scene of an accident and do everything they can to save people’s lives. Thanks to modern ambulances, health-care workers not only provide timely transport for people who are injured or in critical condition from the accident scene to a medical facility, but also stabilize their condition during transport,” said Dr Liashko.

 

“Emergency medicine centres and ambulances are also involved in the process of medical evacuation of patients overseas. This component is very important to the proper functioning of the medical system as a whole. We are grateful to WHO for its continued support for our health-care workers because every day each of us does everything in their power to save the lives of Ukrainians affected by the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation.”

 

The donations were made possible with support from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund and allocated through WHO.

 

WHO has delivered more than 1300 metric tonnes of life-saving medical supplies to Ukraine since the war began. Deliveries include power generators, ambulances and oxygen supplies for medical facilities; supplies for trauma and emergency surgeries; and medicines to help treat noncommunicable diseases.