Ukraine receives 23 ambulances from WHO with support from USAID and the Government of Germany
The Centers for Emergency and Disaster Medicine received 23 ambulances from the World Health Organization (WHO) with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the German government to meet the urgent healthcare needs of patients during the war.
Designed as mobile intensive care units, these vehicles will provide essential care to patients who require additional life-sustaining measures during transportation to and between hospitals.
“Today, we are donating additional vehicles to Ukraine to improve the timeliness and quality of medical services provided to patients during the war, as well as to strengthen the healthcare system's capacity to respond to the challenges of the war.”
“WHO is supporting Ukraine to ensure the continuity and accessibility of health services in times of war, and together with partners, we are donating Type C ambulances to ensure that Ukrainian patients have access to essential and life-saving medical care during transportation to hospitals.”
Type C ambulances are equipped with the necessary life support equipment, including defibrillator monitors, ventilators, medical oxygen supply equipment, infusion pumps, ECG machines, stretchers, and trauma equipment, which allows the transportation of seriously injured patients to medical facilities.
The vehicles have already been distributed to regional Emergency Medical Care and Disaster Medicine Centers, including Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odesa, Sumy, and other regions.
“In the face of constant shelling and targeted attacks on medical infrastructure by Russia, we are doing our best to provide medical care to our patients. The efficient and high-quality work of emergency medical services plays an extremely important role in this. That is why I am sincerely grateful to all the partners who support the work of our emergency services, especially in the issue of renewing the vehicle fleet, which, unfortunately, is often targeted by the enemy: almost 600 ambulances have been destroyed, damaged or lost so far and this number is constantly increasing. The 23 ambulances that have been transferred today, which are actually mobile resuscitation vehicles and allow us to provide life-saving assistance to patients with serious conditions during medical transportation, will significantly strengthen our medical system.”
It should be noted that since February 24, 2022, WHO and its partners have handed over 137 ambulances to the Ministry of Health.
This delivery was made possible with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the German government.
“The United States remains committed to supporting the people of Ukraine. To that end, USAID will continue to provide significant support to the health care system and other life-saving services. These ambulances are just one example of the wide range of medical assistance that we and our partners, such as WHO, are providing to the Ukrainian people. We must also recognize the outstanding efforts of our UN partners and non-governmental organizations, both local and international. Every day, they are working bravely to evacuate vulnerable populations from the frontline areas, providing emergency medical care, basic health services, and emergency psychiatric and psychosocial assistance to Ukrainians affected by the conflict.”
“Germany has long been a strong supporter of Ukraine and is the second-largest bilateral donor after our partners in the United States. In addition to our support for reconstruction, today I would also like to emphasize our commitment to knowledge transfer through capacity building and advanced training of Ukrainian healthcare professionals. The German Hospital Partnership Program creates a growing network of 30 German and more than 70 Ukrainian hospitals in 19 oblasts. This is an important contribution to the further development and reform of Ukraine's healthcare system.”
As a reminder, the Ministry of Health recently received ambulances from the British Foundation. In total, since the beginning of the full-scale war, Ukraine has received 1237 vehicles as part of humanitarian aid, 73 of which are armored.