Fighting COVID-19 in Ukraine: Saving Millions of Lives

In February 2020, Ukraine faced the threat of the pandemic and Rinat Akhmetov was the first to come to help. He allocated about UAH 500 million for the fight against the coronavirus within the framework of the project Fighting COVID-19 in Ukraine. Thanks to this, the Foundation helped 1.41 million people survive. This is the largest contribution of one philanthropist to the public healthcare sector of Ukraine during our country’s independence.

‘The rise in the incidence rates and the catastrophic lack of modern equipment, protective gear, oxygen and other items in the hub hospitals have become the main factors triggering the mobilization of all resources. Thus, oxygen stations were created on the territory of hospitals, and to be able to save the lives of patients, doctors received modern artificial lung ventilation devices and many more items from the Foundation,’ said Iryna Blazhan, Project and Program Chief Director of the Foundation.

As Iryna Blazhan explained, the fight against the coronavirus and help to patients remain on the top of the agenda both in Ukraine and around the world:

‘By the personal decision of the Foundation’s Founder, more than 500 healthcare facilities across the country received more than 1,000 pieces of equipment, including more than 200 lung ventilators and 159 oxygen concentrators. Public hospitals received more than 200,000 units of personal protective equipment. In addition, doctors received 337,000 rapid COVID-19 tests and 1,044 units of medical and laboratory equipment from the Foundation. The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation will certainly continue to help the country in the fight against the pandemic,’ Iryna Blazhan emphasized.
Doctors noted the importance of such support.

‘The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation helped us. At the beginning of the pandemic, it donated seven modern lung ventilators to our hospital. The Foundation also provided personal protective equipment for doctors,’ says Roman Bloshchychak, head of anaesthesiology and intensive care department of Yurii Lypa Lviv Regional Hospital for War Veterans and Repressed People.

‘The Foundation’s contribution to the development of healthcare in Ukraine is significant. Even if we talk only about our hospital, our region, a large-scale charitable assistance has been provided. If we consider the Foundation’s activities throughout Ukraine, this is a very large scale, which is even difficult to imagine. We are very grateful to the Foundation, and we hope for our further cooperation,’ added Nadiya Fokshanska, an anaesthesiologist of Ivano-Frankivsk Children’s Clinical Hospital.

The President of the Association of Anaesthesiologists of Ukraine Serhiy Dubrov also reiterated the importance of the Foundation’s assistance:

‘This includes some equipment, in particular high-class lung ventilators, and express tests for rapid diagnosis of the disease, as well as personal protective gear. This help cannot be overestimated.’

Another important activity area within the framework of the project was live broadcast of the program Ask the Doctor on the digital platforms of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation. These are weekly online meetings with leading healthcare experts of Ukraine on the Foundation’s digital platforms. During live broadcasts, everyone can ask the invited doctor about various aspects of the COVID-19 problem and get a clear, well-founded answer that can be 100% trusted. Ask the Doctor gives comprehensible answers to difficult questions.