Hospitals in Ukraine are running dangerously low on oxygen as Russia‘s assault on the country has hindered domestic transportation of crucial medical supplies.
The World Health Organization warned on Sunday that trucks are unable to carry oxygen supplies from plants to hospitals around the country, putting thousands of lives at risk, including some 1,700 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized across the country.
“The oxygen supply situation is nearing a very dangerous point in Ukraine,” the global public health body said. “The majority of hospitals could exhaust their oxygen reserves within the next 24 hours. Some have already run out. This puts thousands of lives at risk.”
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Dwindling oxygen supplies could also spell disaster for other patients hospitalized post-childbirth, for sepsis, because of chronic health conditions, and for injuries.
“Compounding the risk to patients, critical hospital services are also being jeopardized by electricity and power shortages, and ambulances transporting patients are in danger of getting caught in the crossfire,” the WHO said.
Delegations from Russia and Ukraine met at the Belarussian border on Monday to negotiate, five days after Moscow began an intense, all-out assault on its Eastern European neighbor. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, though, said he was skeptical that the talks would yield positive results.
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The conflict between Russian and Ukrainian forces has already driven more than 500,000 refugees to the eastern edge of the European Union without signs of stopping on Monday, according to the Associated Press.
The WHO said that it would continue lending assistance to Ukrainian hospitals, including the importation of oxygen supplies from neighboring regions. However, the delivery of those supplies, the public health body said, would rely on “safe transit, including via a logistics corridor through Poland,” a tall order amid power outages, traffic blockages caused by checkpoints, and airstrikes.
