Gayi Gagana

Prior to the conflict, the UN health agency distributed emergency supplies to 23 hospitals in Ukraine, but Tedros cautioned that prepositioned materials in Kyiv were “currently inaccessible”. At least three major oxygen plants in Ukraine have now closed, Tedros added. “There is an urgent need to establish a corridor to ensure humanitarian workers and supplies have safe and continuous access to reach people in need,” insisted the WHO chief, who also expressed serious concern at “several” unconfirmed attacks on hospitals and health infrastructure, since the Russian offensive began last Thursday. “Attacks on healthcare are in violation of international humanitarian law,” he said, before underscoring the “sanctity and neutrality” of health care, health workers, patients, supplies, transport and facilities. “The right to safe access to care, must be respected and protected,” he said. Echoing concerns for Ukraine’s most vulnerable civilians who have been exposed to shelling and bombing, Dr Ryan noted that “if you’re a 65 or 70-year-old in ICU, no-one can carry you down the stairs to the basement…and they’re being cared for by doctors and nurses while the bombs are falling around them.” He added: “People’s bodies and people’s bones have been broken and people’s lives are being lost and there isn’t a health service available to deliver lifesaving care, and we can’t supply that health service at the moment. So something has got to move and something has got to change to create the conditions in which that can happen.”