EHA donates €250,000 to Médecins Sans Frontières
The EHA Board is actively implementing support actions to hematologists and hematology patients in Ukraine and to those who are forced to leave the country. Today EHA announced it will donate €250,000 to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), who will use the funds to provide emergency medical support in Ukraine.
Kathy Rombouts, relationship manager philanthropy at MSF, says: “We are overwhelmed by the fantastic announcement that the European Hematology Association is supporting Médecins Sans Frontières with this special gift for our emergency medical assistance in Ukraine.” MSF has been present in Ukraine since the start of the conflict and is now scaling up their aid on a daily basis. The destruction in cities such as Kharkov and Kiev is enormous and the number of casualties among both military and civilians is increasing. According to the UNHCR, the number of refugees could be as high as four million. MSF is committed to continuing to provide emergency medical care to people affected by the conflict.
This is how Médecins Sans Frontières provides emergency aid to Ukraine
We continue our ongoing projects in Severodonetsk, Zhytomyr and Donetsk in Ukraine. In addition, we are strengthening our teams and adapting our assistance to meet needs. Teams have also arrived in Poland, Moldova, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia to provide medical and humanitarian support at border crossings. Because we are on site, we can determine where we can best deploy our help and expertise. Our teams in and around Ukraine currently provide assistance in three ways:
- We provide essential emergency aid. We assist and train staff of local hospitals in providing care for war wounded. In Poland we opened a post from which we can provide assistance on both sides of the border. Emergency response teams are standing by in Hungary, Belarus and Russia. We also map out the needs on the Romanian-Moldavian border.
- We provide hospitals with medical supplies and equipment. Shipments contain, for example, surgical sets with instruments, and emergency kits with medicines and first aid material. We also send products against dehydration and hypothermia. Earlier we also distributed medical supplies to two hospitals in Mariupol.
- We provide remote medical training. We offer online training about trauma care and surgery. We also support local doctors and nurses in providing mental health care in health centers close to the battle line.
Rombouts: “This exceptional humanitarian crisis immediately requires a lot of extra effort from our teams. We very much appreciate that EHA has indicated that it wants to contribute to the necessary medical aid for the victims of the war in Ukraine and in the neighbouring countries where the refugee flows arrive."
The Hague / Amsterdam
23 March 2022