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In what it described as a “grim milestone,” the World Well being Group mentioned Thursday that it has verified 103 assaults on Ukrainian well being care websites and ambulances since Russian forces invaded the nation on Feb. 24.
The group mentioned in a press release that the assaults had resulted in 73 deaths and 51 accidents. A lot of the assaults had been on heath care amenities, whereas 13 affected transportation of the sick and wounded, together with ambulances, the assertion mentioned.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director-general, mentioned the group was “outraged that assaults on well being care are persevering with” and that attacking well being care was a violation of worldwide humanitarian regulation.
“Peace is the one method ahead,” he mentioned. “I once more name on the Russian Federation to cease the battle.”
Among the many assaults on well being care amenities was a missile strike on a maternity hospital within the coastal metropolis of Mariupol in March, which killed no less than three folks. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine described the assault on the hospital as “proof that the genocide of Ukrainians is happening.”
The WHO mentioned Ukraine’s well being care system would undergo long-term penalties from the assaults, and that such assaults had been “a significant blow” to the nation’s progress on well being reform and realizing common well being protection.
In some instances, Ukrainians have been pressured to depart the nation as a way to obtain medical therapy. Greater than 300 youngsters with most cancers and their dad and mom have been evacuated to clinics in Europe, Canada and the US, in accordance with the Ukrainian authorities.
Throughout the nation, there are 1,000 well being care amenities close to or in areas of battle, mentioned Dr. Jarno Habicht, a WHO consultant in Ukraine.
“When persons are prevented from in search of and accessing well being care, both as a result of the amenities have been destroyed or out of concern that they could turn out to be a goal, they lose hope,” Habicht mentioned. “The psychological well being toll wreaked by the battle can’t be underestimated, affecting civilians and the well being workforce alike.”
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