WHO, with USAID and Germany, donates 23 ambulances to Ukraine for critical patients amid the war

WHO, with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Government of Germany, has donated 23 ambulances to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine to enable the provision of emergency medical care to patients during the war. These ambulances will serve as mobile intensive care units, designed primarily for transporting critical patients to hospitals and between hospital facilities.

"Today we are donating additional emergency vehicles to Ukraine to improve the timeliness and quality of health services provided to patients amid the war and strengthen the capacity of the health system in responding to wartime challenges," said Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, this week on his sixth visit to Ukraine since 2022.

"WHO supports Ukraine in ensuring the continuity and availability of medical services amid the war, and together with partners, we hand over Type C ambulances to enable access to essential and life-saving medical care for Ukrainian patients during hospital transportation," said Dr Jarno Habicht, WHO Representative in Ukraine.

Each ambulance is specifically equipped with defibrillators, monitors, lung ventilators, medical oxygen delivery systems, infusion pumps, electrocardiogram machines, a variety of stretchers, trauma care equipment and other life-saving gear, enabling the provision of highly specialized and essential care for patients who require additional life-support during transportation.

The ambulances will be distributed throughout the country, including but not limited to Dnipro, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Odesa, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia regions.

"Under constant shelling and targeted attacks on medical infrastructure by Russia, we are doing everything possible to provide medical care to our patients. The effective and high-quality work of emergency medical services plays an extremely important role in this. Therefore, I am sincerely grateful to all partners who support the work of our emergency services, especially in the matter of updating the vehicle fleet, which, unfortunately, often becomes a target for the enemy. Currently, nearly 600 ambulances have been destroyed, damaged or lost, and this number continues to grow. The 23 ambulances delivered today, which are essentially mobile intensive care units, allowing for the provision of life-saving assistance to patients in critical condition during medical transportation, will significantly strengthen our medical system," said Viktor Liashko, Minister of Health of Ukraine.

"The United States remains committed to supporting the people of Ukraine. To that end, we at USAID will continue to provide robust support for the health-care system and other life-saving services. These ambulances are just one example of the wide range of health assistance we and our partners like WHO are working to provide the Ukrainian people. We must also recognize the outstanding efforts of our UN and NGO partners, both local and international. Every day, they are bravely working to evacuate vulnerable populations from frontline areas, support emergency medical care, deliver essential health services, and provide rapid mental health and psychosocial support services to Ukrainians affected by the conflict," said Julie Koenen, USAID Mission Director.

"Germany is a longstanding supporter of Ukraine and following our US partners the second largest bilateral donor. Besides our support for reconstruction, today I would also like to highlight our commitment to knowledge transfer through capacity-building and qualification of Ukrainian health-care workers. The German Hospital Partnership Programme builds up a still-growing network of 30 German and over 70 Ukrainian hospitals in 19 oblasts. This is a crucial contribution to further developing and reforming Ukraine's health-care system," said Marcus Koll, Head of Cooperation, German Embassy, Kyiv.

Since the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine on 24 February 2022, 137 ambulances have been donated to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine by WHO and its partners.