A team of 22 Canadian health professionals arrived in Ukraine on Oct. 23, its third visit in less than a year, to operate on 40 Ukrainian soldiers wounded during Russia's war on Ukraine in the Donbas.
Organized by the Canada-Ukraine Foundation under the
patronage of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, the mission runs through Nov. 1
and will carry out reconstructive surgery on victims of Russia’s war in eastern
Ukraine and a master class for Ukrainian military surgeons.
The visit follows two successful medical missions the
Canadian team conducted in November 2014 and May 2015, which saw over 80
reconstructive procedures completed on a total of 60 patients. A fourth mission is planned for February
2016.
“This time the mission consists of 22 health professionals.
Among them, there are two anesthesiologists, six surgeons and a professional
team of nurses,” said Dr. Oleh Antonyshyn, the head of the Adult Craniofacial
Program at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, at a press briefing in Kyiv on
Oct. 26. “Together with (our) Ukrainian colleagues, members of our mission will
be carrying out operations on facial and upper extremity traumas, post-traumatic
craniofacial deformities, soft tissue defects, and scars for 40 patients in
three operation rooms for one week in Kyiv Military Hospital of the Defense
Ministry of Ukraine.”
Ihor Fedirko, the head of the oral and maxillofacial surgery
clinic of the Kyiv Military Hospital, said that all 40 patients were previously
operated on by Ukrainian surgeons.
Krystina Waler, the Canadian
foundation’s director for humanitarian initiatives, told journalists that this
time 1.2 million Canadian dollars was allocated by Canadian government and
non-governmental organizations for the third and fourth mission.
She also stated that the group bought 700,000 Canadian
dollars worth of medical equipment that it will donate to the military hospital.
Victor
Hetmanczuk, president of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation thinks that the allocation of such an amount
of money by the Canadian government to the foundation is a sign of trust. Funding for the first two
medical missions came largely from United for Ukraine, a fundraising event that took
place in September 2014, and attended by hockey great Wayne Gretzky.
“This time
we did some calculations and saw that if we had taken all 40 patients to Canada for
treatment it would cost 1.5 million (Canadian dollars). So the decision was
obvious! We should all come here for a week,” said Hetmanczuk at the press
briefing in Kyiv on Oct. 26. “By the
way, everyone on the Canadian team will work here for free.”
Read
more information about Canadian medical professionals missions in Ukraine here.
Kyiv Post staff writer Veronika Melkozerova can be reached at [email protected]
