Poland’s Health Minister Adam Niedzielski opened the facility together with his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Liashko and the European Union's Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Niedzielski told the media that the new facility, called Medevac Hub, had been created as a joint effort by “Polish institutions, the EU and nongovernmental organisations.”
He added that Ukrainian patients would now have "a dedicated place in which to await transport to hospitals across Europe for life-saving treatment."
The mainly EU-funded hub will provide round-the-clock care and psychological support, officials told reporters.
‘Ukraine won’t be left alone’
“The Medevac Hub in Jasionka has been established to help the citizens of Ukraine,” Niedzielski said.
He added: “Ukraine won’t be left alone in its struggle against the Russian aggressor. We are looking after the patients so that Ukraine can wage its fight for freedom.”
Niedzielski also said that a special aircraft would land at the nearby Jasionka Airport twice a week to take Ukrainian patients to other countries.
Some will receive treatment elsewhere in the EU, while others will be transferred to countries such as Norway, which has so far welcomed the biggest number of the ill and injured from Ukraine, reporters were told.
The Medevac Hub can house up to 20 patients, with the first arrivals expected next week, officials said.
1,200 Ukrainian patients evacuated by EU
Meanwhile, the EU’s Lenarčič said that around 1,200 patients had so far been evacuated from Ukraine under the bloc’s auspices.
He noted that Poland’s southeastern Podkarpackie province, where the Medevac facility is located, already served as a hub for humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
“This part of Poland is extremely important to helping Ukraine,” Lenarčič said.
Ukraine’s Liashko thanked everyone who contributed to the creation of the Medevac Hub.
To emphasise how sorely needed the new facility was, he said that Russia had so far "destroyed 123 Ukrainian hospitals... worth over USD 1 billion," the PAP news agency reported.
Thursday was day 190 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, rynekzdrowia.pl