Putin’s army is attacking Ukraine not only where fighting is taking place, but also where aid is being provided. The World Health Organization (WHO) has calculated that clinics and hospitals have been attacked by Russia almost two thousand times since February 2022.
For two years, Russia has been systematically destroying not only Ukraine's armed forces and critical infrastructure, but also its healthcare system. The World Health Organization has calculated that clinics and hospitals have been attacked by Putin's forces almost two thousand times since the invasion began on February 24, 2022.
Last month, the world was filled with dramatic images of the destroyed Okhmatdyt Specialist Children's Hospital in Kiev. On the same day, only a few hours later, Russian missiles also fell on the obstetrics and gynecology clinic.
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– We are witnessing a blatant disregard for the basic principles of humanitarian law – said Dr. Emanuele Bruni, Head of Global Health Threats at the WHO Country Office in Ukraine. – We are losing colleagues: healthcare workers, nurses, doctors, paramedics – said Dr. Jarno Habicht, WHO Representative in Ukraine.
Hospitals and medics under fire
We don't know exactly how many healthcare workers have died in Ukraine so far because of the war, but you only need to ask someone there to see how dramatic the losses must be. “I already know more than 20 people among my colleagues and acquaintances who died. At the beginning of the war, an otolaryngologist, with whom I used to work in a hospital in Kiev, died. He died while working in the operating theater,” confesses Mykola Szpakowski, a surgeon from the Polish-Ukrainian Center Foundation.
Two years ago, the staff and patients of a hospital in Mariupol were killed. Photos of the destroyed facility went around the world. However, people are dying in silence in dozens of other hospitals. It is impossible to list and show everyone. Psychiatric and pediatric hospitals are also attacked. It is no wonder that healthcare in Ukraine has become mobile – patients and staff are constantly fleeing.
Some have to go abroad for further treatment, others permanently move to shelters and basements. – Many of our medical colleagues have died and will probably die again, which is why the medical services working in Ukraine are fighting not only with the potential death of the patient, but also with the specter of their own death – points out Damian Duda, a battlefield rescuer, member of the “W Śniadanie” Foundation. This is why the constant support from Poland is still so important.
Main image source: Reuters