The Italian Ambassador to Ukraine, Carlo Formosa, visited the Kiev Children's Hospital 'Okhmatdyt', which was severely damaged by Russian bombing raids on the Ukrainian capital. The Head of Mission was accompanied by staff from the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) in Kiev and humanitarian workers from the Italian organisation Soleterre. The Ambassador, personally inspecting the serious damage suffered by the facility, where two people were killed and thirty-two injured as a result of the attack, met the Director General Volodymyr Zhovnir, the Medical Director Serghiy Chernyshuk and the hospital staff. The Chief of Mission conveyed Italy's sympathy for the victims and the terrible devastation suffered, and expressed our country's readiness to contribute to the management of the emergency and the reconstruction of the clinic, starting from the projects the hospital is already benefiting from within the framework of Italian Cooperation support.
The hospital, which treats over 20 thousand children a year and provides consultations to over 65 thousand patients, represents one of the focal points of the Italian Cooperation's commitment in Ukraine: at the Okhmatdyt Hospital, the Italian civil society organisation (Osc) Soleterre - in collaboration with its local partner the Zaporuka Foundation - was working on the construction of a new physical rehabilitation ward with twenty beds, through a project financed with 100 thousand euro by the Italian Cooperation. As part of the same initiative, rehabilitation equipment and consumables worth over EUR 90,000 had also been purchased in the past few months, including exercise machines, verticalisers, ceiling lifts and water baths for the production of orthoses; much of this equipment was unfortunately lost or damaged during the attack. Soleterre, through the support of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, also supported and financed the presence of qualified medical staff for both physical rehabilitation (injured or disabled) and psychological support.
In 2023, thanks to Cooperation funds, through a programme implemented by the Italian Osc Terre des Hommes, the same hospital was donated medicines that are difficult to find in Ukraine to facilitate the treatment of young patients at the facility.
Both initiatives are part of calls for Osc funded by the Italian Cooperation for a total of 60.5 million euro. AICS has been working in the field of health in Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion: between 2022 and 2024, it has launched 24 projects dedicated to the health, protection and welfare of the population, for a total of over 20 million euro.
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