WHO Has Difficulty Supplying Generators To Ukrainian Hospitals

In a statement on Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that it was struggling to get two generators to hospitals in besieged Mariupol, fearing dire consequences for the city’s hard-hit health system. According to the WHO, it is trying to pre-position supplies closer to the frontlines to speed up delivery if a window opens up. WHO hopes to deliver 15 generators to hospitals across Ukraine, from a base that is centred in the western city of Lviv.

Two of the generators were due to head to the eastern city of Kharkiv on Tuesday. Three other generators were destined for the Lugansk and Donetsk regions in the east, which have seen heavy fighting. Two more generators were set to go to Mariupol, which is also in the east. Bhanu Bhatnagar, WHO Europe spokesman, told reporters in Geneva via videolink from Lviv.

“We will only move the generators to their final destinations when we can ensure the safety of our personnel and the precious cargo they are transporting. The generators will help meet the minimum energy needs of medical and surgical units of referral hospitals, where power supply is limited or non-existent”.

Mariupol has now become a symbol of Ukraine’s fierce resistance since Russia invaded it on the 24th of February. On Tuesday, Russia called upon the Ukrainian forces to lay down their arms “immediately” in the city.

“We don’t have access to Mariupol at this time but we will position everything so that the minute we can get access, we are able to get the supplies in,” Bhatnagar said. “We fear the worst for the health system in Mariupol.”

The UN’s World Food Programme pleaded for there to be unimpeded humanitarian access to the people who are trapped in encircled areas of Ukraine. In Mariupol alone, more than 100,000 people are unable to leave and “are in dire need of food, water and other essential supplies,” Jakob Kern, the WFP’s emergency coordinator in Ukraine, told reporters in Geneva via videolink from Lviv. “In such circumstances, any illness that can usually be treated with medicine becomes a life-threatening situation.”

Around six million Ukrainians are estimated to require food and cash assistance by the World Food Program. The WHO said it had so far delivered 218 metric tonnes of emergency and medical supplies and equipment to Ukraine, of which 142 metric tonnes had reached its intended destination, mostly in the north and the east. Since the Russian invasion, the WHO has verified 147 attacks on healthcare sites in Ukraine, in which at least 73 people have died and 52 have been injured.