He points to the lack of willingness to open humanitarian corridors as the “main difficulty of the war”

MADRID, 20 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Médicos del Mundo organization has warned this Monday that Ukraine concentrates in its territory “almost 70 percent of the direct attacks against medical infrastructures” that are registered globally in the context of armed conflicts, which contributes to a health crisis. “unprecedented” that hits the local population hard after almost a year of Russian invasion.

This was denounced by the president of Médicos del Mundo España, Pepe Fernández, during a press conference held in Madrid, where he denounced that this type of attack also occurs against mobile units, which puts the deceased toilets at more than a hundred in the performance of their functions since the beginning of the conflict.

“There have been more than 100 people killed among health personnel and a few dozen more injured. This is noteworthy in a conflict like the one that is being suffered in Ukraine,” lamented Fernández, who recalled that International Law is not being respected .

Fernández, who has criticized the “very precarious situation” faced by health personnel, has asserted that these regulations “are not being respected in terms of preserving the medical assistance devices for the population and the flows of supply channels of the assistance”.

In addition, he has admitted that it is “difficult” for NGOs to explain the difficulty of opening humanitarian corridors. “It is an issue that has been demanded for a long time, but international regulations are not respected and we do not understand why. We can only offer alternative paths,” he stated before specifying that “it is one of the great difficulties of the war of Ukraine”.

For this reason, it has echoed a request that numerous organizations are already making on the ground: “demand respect for the norms of International Humanitarian Law”. “I dare not say that these infrastructures are a direct target but the fact is that they are being damaged and they should not be being damaged, much less the lives of those who provide medical care, whether they are Ukrainian or not,” he pointed out.

In the areas of Ukraine most affected by the war, hospitals and health centers are working to care for the largest number of sick people despite power cuts and lack of heating, which “condemns the population to very deficient health”, as he has warned.

This situation is faced by already vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, people with disabilities, previous pathologies or chronic illnesses, among others.

“There is a logic of time and the progressive lack of response capacity of the Ukrainian health system and the damage that it is generating on the health of the population. It is cumulative. They are the deaths of the civilian population, the wounds and traumatisms due to the war and also the lack of access to health care. Access to health care is affected”, explained Fernández, who has stressed the importance of mental health, which he considers “transversal” because it equally affects children, adults and elderly.

From Médicos del Mundo they point to frightening figures: some 7,000 civilians killed and 11,000 injured since the start of the conflict, to which are added 17.7 million people who need humanitarian aid, some six million displaced and eight million of refugees, a large number of whom want to return home. In addition, there are more than a hundred damaged health infrastructures.

Fernández has stressed the difficulty of “covering all the needs” of the population. “When we listen to stories, we see how badly they have it in terms of mental health,” he lamented.

In this sense, he has warned of a “saturation of health services in the west of the country and a care deficit in chronic processes, such as diabetes or hypertension.” That is why the NGO seeks to “support the Ukrainian public health system.”

For her part, the coordinator of Médicos del Mundo for the emergency in Ukraine, Marina Vidal, pointed out that “Ukraine is a huge country with a high population mobility and where many hope to return.” However, the infrastructures “are touched”, which means that “the routes are lengthened” due to the lack of minimum services.

Likewise, he has ventured that long-term psychosocial assistance will be necessary, “for years and despite the long-desired peace coming” between Russia and Ukraine. “It will be a challenge for the whole country,” she added.

Vidal has indicated that “the population is exposed to violence and must fight against fear, which means that even though people are in safe areas they notice the repercussions of the conflict due to the threat of violence.”

Regarding the supply of medicines, he pointed out that there are areas, such as in the north of Kharkov, where access “is not safe for anyone and medicines do not arrive”. “Many people have to take risks to access a right that is health,” she stated, while noting that many areas remain “inaccessible to humanitarian aid and even transport companies cannot enter.”

Despite the fact that there are distribution points, such as in the north of Romania, that allow the supply of tons of medicines and supplies necessary to offer treatment, from Médicos del Mundo they insist that there are “numerous distribution infrastructures damaged and few points enabled for it” . This makes supplying local markets a priority, given that it is estimated that 50 percent of the country’s pharmacies are closed.

From Médicos del Mundo, which has been working on the ground for five years, they have called on the parties involved in the conflict to guarantee “unimpeded access to humanitarian aid” and “put an end to violence against the civilian population and humanitarian personnel.