New Oxygen Station Launched at Zaporizhzhya Infectious Diseases Hospital

The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation together with Zaporizhstal of Metinvest Group financed the construction of and donated a new oxygen station to Zaporizhzhya Regional Infectious Diseases Hospital. The station will be supplying medical oxygen to 104 hospital beds for COVID-19 patients.

‘Provision of hospitals with oxygen for efficient treatment of those infected with the coronavirus remains an urgent and important task today. That is why the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation and Zaporizhstal PJSC of Metinvest Group came forward with an initiative to build a turnkey oxygen station at the regional hospital. The station has two containers of 2.5 tons each. They can continuously supply oxygen to the level from the second to the fifth floor where a modern network for patients has been created. This oxygen station will enable doctors to save even more lives and is a significant help in the fight against the pandemic,’ said Oleksandr Myronenko, the CEO of Zaporizhstal.

At the stage of the station's design, provisions for an alerts system and high safety and security systems were made. The staff of the healthcare facility has undergone a respective training.

‘The laying and setting up of the oxygen station’s supply network did not interrupt the hospitalization and treatment of patients. I would like to express my gratitude to the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, Zaporizhstal Works and Metinvest Group for the construction of this modern oxygen station. Today, oxygen is the price of life for each of us, for our relatives and family members,’ said Iryna Kulesh, acting chief physician of Zaporizhzhya Regional Infectious Diseases Hospital.

The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, Zaporizhstal and Metinvest have been providing their large-scale assistance to healthcare institutions in Zaporizhzhya since the beginning of the pandemic. Thus, 16 oxygen concentrators, 15 lung ventilators, 34,000 rapid COVID-19 tests and almost 3,000 units of personal protective equipment were donated to municipal and regional hospitals.

‘Rinat Akhmetov allocated over UAH 300 million to help the country in overcoming the pandemic. This is the largest contribution of one philanthropist to the modernization of public healthcare in Ukraine. The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation created a project Fighting COVID-19 in Ukraine, which is unprecedented one. It is part of the program Rinat Akhmetov – Saving Lives. It is the largest, most systematic and widest scale private initiative aimed at helping public healthcare facilities in the fight against the coronavirus. For efficient operation, all resources of the Charitable Foundation, Shakhtar Football Club, Metinvest Group, DTEK and other assets of SCM Group were pooled together,’ said Yuliia Yershova, Chief Communications Officer of the Foundation.

In the framework of the project Fighting COVID-19 in Ukraine, the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation provides doctors who are at the front line of the fight against the coronavirus with what is needed most. Public hospitals have been provided with 1,044 units of medical and laboratory equipment, more than 200,000 units of personal protective equipment, 337,000 rapid COVID-19 tests, more than 200 ultra-modern lung ventilators and much more.