Kyiv, 31 January 2023 – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine, with financial support from the Government of Canada, has handed over two vehicles for the provision of mobile medical services to the Rubizhne Central City Hospital of Luhansk Oblast, which is now operating in Dnipro, and the Kramatorsk Territorial Medical Alliance of Donetsk Oblast, which is temporarily based in Stryi, Lviv Oblast.

Initially, these vehicles were supposed to operate in Rubizhne and Kramatorsk, but because of the war in Ukraine, health-care activities there are impossible. To support medical facilities relocated from the areas experiencing active hostilities, the specially equipped vans were transferred to secondary-level hospitals in host communities to provide services for internally displaced persons and locals.

These vehicles are diagnostic offices on wheels, and are supplied with the most modern medical equipment, including ophthalmological apparatus, which will help with the timely diagnosis of diseases in patients who cannot get to hospital for various reasons.

Jaco Cilliers, interim UNDP Resident Representative in Ukraine, said that UNDP is pleased to support its longstanding partners from Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts and recognizes the impressive hospitality and dedication of the hosting communities. “Together with the Government of Canada, we are ensuring that high-quality health-care will be provided closer to the population,” he added. “The provision of mobile medical services responds to several challenges that are especially acute during the war, in a context of limited physical and economic access to the hospitals.”

Background

The vehicles were handed over with the support of the UNDP in Ukraine in the framework of the United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme (UN RPP) with financial support from the Government of Canada.

The UN RPP is being implemented by four United Nations agencies: the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Eleven international partners are supporting the Programme: the European Union (EU), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, and the governments of Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland.

Media inquiries: Yuliia Samus, UNDP Ukraine Head of Communications; e-mail: yuliia.samus@undp.org