The images are the same from all over Ukraine today. Since the conclusion of the Russian presidential elections, the biggest wave of air strikes since the beginning of the war has been rolling in.
One of our longest-running projects continues to be in high demand. We have recently been able to provide and deliver a large consignment of general surgical instruments to the Mykolayiv municipal hospital free of charge.
Our young anesthetists in Ukraine are delighted with the delivery of two fully operational portable ultrasound probes and the corresponding iPads. I have already reported elsewhere on how our colleagues are constantly training themselves and others to use more and more regional anaesthesia.
These scantily clad men in the snow looking so friendly have a serious background. They are colleagues from the #Charkiv ambulance service who are practising how to prevent hypothermia in patients.
While the first signs of spring can already be seen here, it is still bitterly cold in eastern Ukraine. Together with our partners Libereco – Partnership for Human Rights - and X-Traverse #Kharkiv, we have sent a total of 1000 children's sleeping bags to the districts close to the front line there.
We have acquired pool of new surgical instruments from a large donation in kind. We regularly send the inventory to Ukrainian clinics, which can order instruments and tools from it. The appropriate items are then delivered to Ukraine free of charge.
In Russia's first Rocket attacks on the city of Kharkiv in Eastern Ukraine this year, several of our rescue service colleagues were injured by so-called double-tap strikes. This involves firing at a (civilian) target several times in intervals in an attempt to kill or injure rescue workers.
t has taken almost an eternity due to new customs regulations in Ukraine and the truckers' strike at the borders.
We don't send out Christmas cards or chocolates. We don't write annual reviews or bake biscuits. We are doing the same as usual - we are working on the next aid delivery.
Over the past year, we have delivered several mobile ultrasound devices to our partners in Ukraine. These are mostly used in emergency diagnostics (e.g. in the FAST protocol for the early detection of internal haemorrhages).