Hospitals’ Plight Grows With Each Day of War
More than 750,000 euros have been donated for the aid campaign “RWTH and Uniklink RWTH Aachen Help Ukraine” so far. Several trucks can be sent out fully loaded with medical supplies every week.
Once again this week, several 40-ton trucks loaded with bandages, medical equipment, and medication have set off from Aachen to the Polish-Ukrainian border. The aid is urgently needed on the ground, in hospitals in Lviv and other Ukrainian cities. When RWTH Professor Andrij Pich accompanied the first large aid convoy as part of the “RWTH and Uniklink RWTH Aachen Help Ukraine” campaign, the doctors there told him they had to close wounds with their bare hands during operations due to the lack of equipment. “It was very moving to see the doctors’ joy as they accepted the supplies,” Pich recounts.
Just as the aid convoy handed over the latest delivery from Aachen to the Ukrainian doctors at the border, news arrived of the Russian attack on the Yavoriv military base near Lviv. Pich and his companions were still on their return trip to Germany when they were informed that the doctors had been able to immediately use the bandages and medication such as morphine and antibiotics for the wounded of this attack.
Pich, a native of Ukraine and professor at the Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry at RWTH and DWI-Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials, was the initiator of this aid campaign. He still has family and friends in the country, many of whom work in the medical sector, so he knows what is needed. So far, more than 750,000 euros have been collected for “RWTH and Uniklink RWTH Aachen Help Ukraine” - this includes many individual donations, but also proceeds from fundraising events. The drugstore of Uniklinik RWTH Aachen uses these funds to procure what is urgently needed in the Ukrainian hospitals. “We are very grateful to everyone who supports us in this way. It clearly shows us how much the fate of the Ukrainians who have to live in this terrible war also touches and worries the people here,” says Pich. "We are glad that we are able to obtain the exact drugs and medical devices that the hospitals in Lviv need so that they can be used there immediately after delivery," explains Dr. Albrecht Eisert, Chief Pharmacist at RWTH Aachen University Hospital.
Unfortunately, the Russian war of aggression continues with unabated ferocity and this is also exacerbating the problems of medical care in Ukraine. “With each passing day, the number of wounded increases, and so does the need for supplies such as vascular stents. The campaign carried out by RWTH and Uniklinik provides straightforward and concrete help here,” he emphasizes.
By now, the team has been able to establish a stable logistics chain right up to the Polish-Ukrainian border. Then, the supplies are usually reloaded into smaller vans to protect against attacks, which are often carried out on larger convoys. Temporary hospitals are also set up on the Polish side to care for wounded and sick refugees. Among other things, 22 special ventilators are also kept there, which can be brought quickly to Lviv, for example, if there is a specific need. The risk of an entire shipment of such valuable equipment being destroyed in an attack during transport is simply too great. That is why they are being delivered to hospitals gradually over time.
Donation account:
Commerzbank Aachen
Beneficiary: RWTH Aachen
IBAN: DE52 3904 0013 0122 6059 00
BIC: COBADEFFXXX
Please indicate “Spende Ukraine” in the reference field.
Donations can also be made in cash (anonymously if desired) at the RWTH Shop at the Main Building, Templergraben 55. The funds will be forwarded from there to RWTH’s donation account.
Find more information or contact us in case of questions here:
spende@rwth-aachen.de
www.rwth-aachen.de/spenden