I had the opportunity yesterday to visit the medical school and the new emergency department at St. Panteleimon Hospital as part of a joint project between DAHW Deutsche Lepra- und Tuberkulosehilfe e.V. and the leading Ukrainian rehabilitation foundation Unbroken.
Our partners at Kinikum No. 25 in Kharkiv were visibly delighted with our latest delivery of newly purchased equipment. It included several emergency suction devices that run on batteries and therefore continue to function even during power outages.
Less than a week after launching our fundraising campaign ‘How can we help Ukraine - right now!’, we received our first donations. It's not enough by a far stretch, but it's an encouraging start. This week, we delivered the following to eastern Ukraine:
After almost two hours of exciting virtual training with donor company Hadler&Braun Medizintechnik, two translators and the intensive care team at Hospital No. 25 in Kharkiv, the new blood gas analyzer device is now up and running.
An important part of our ccoperation with medical colleagues in Ukraine is the constant re-evaluation and testing of medical supplies we use. These tests are particularly important when original products are tested against derivatives.
The war in Ukraine has become even more brutal during president Trump's ‘peace negotiations’. The front is moving even closer to already hard-hit Kharkiv city.
In a joint project with our partners from TvoryDobro, who, as Berliners with Ukrainian roots, have been doing admirable work in those past three years, this time we are providing these pneumatic gloves to a rehabilitation centre in Ukraine.
Despite the recent start of talks on a ceasefire in Ukraine, hundreds of people continue to be injured or killed every day as a result of the fighting. The high number of complicated bone fractures places a particular burden on hospitals and rescue services.
During my current visit to Ukraine, I was able see the progress of a cooperation project with my own eyes:
While the military situation just a few kilometres from these colleagues' clinic is becoming increasingly dramatic, they are trying day after day to save as many lives and preserve as much health as they can.