Dnipropetrovsk – Representatives of the Ukrainian Diaspora in the United States and other American citizens have raised about $500,000 in humanitarian aid for the Ukrainian military injured in the anti-terrorist operation in the east of Ukraine.
Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration’s press service said that the funds had been spent on the purchase of expensive medical equipment, accessories and supplies for a local military hospital and Dnipropetrovsk-based Mechnikov regional clinical hospital.
Chief project coordinator Jeannie Martin told reporters that she was on an evaluation trip to Ukraine in August 2014 where she talked with the head physicians of the hospitals to see and document their needs.
Ukraine is a great example of how to fight for freedom, she said. Costs to deliver a container from the state of Colorado to Ukraine totaled $20,000, while commodities in the container are estimated at about $500,000, she said.
Half of the goods in the container are surgery supplies, while special beds, chairs, walkers account for 40%, and specific operational equipment (an electrosurgical unit, an ultrasound machine, an artificial lung ventilation apparatus, etc.) for 10 percent.
“Hospital admissions are up to 50 injured persons per day. Two hundred people are undergoing treatment here now,” military hospital chief Andriy Rylsky said.
“The cargo includes the items we’ve asked. An artificial lung ventilation apparatus, monitors, other equipment, smaller but not less important equipment – are exactly what we’ve needed,” he said.
Two more containers with U.S. humanitarian aid estimated at over $1 million are expected to arrive in Dnipropetrovsk region soon.
