Adam Niedzielski made the declaration at a joint news conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Liashko on Wednesday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The two ministers met at the Jasionka Medevac Hub near the southeastern Polish city of Rzeszów, a stopover facility for Ukrainian patients before they are taken to hospitals in Poland and around the world.
Niedzielski told the media: “This infrastructure, this hub and the whole system of patient transportation is prepared for a bigger influx of patients from Ukraine.”
He added that "the total capacity of the Jasionka hub is much bigger" and that "it is not being fully used at the moment."
“I would like to tell Ukrainian people that we are at your service,” Niedzielski declared.
He praised the transportation system put in place for Ukrainian patients, saying that "from Jasionka they are taken by a special, comfortable plane" to medical facilities across Europe.
Earlier in the day, the Polish and Ukrainian health ministers attended the departure of an aircraft carrying a group of Ukrainian patients to hospitals in the Netherlands and Norway, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
The group included people with gunshot wounds as well as cancer patients, Niedzielski told reporters.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Liashko thanked everyone helping war patients from his country.
He said that Russia was continuing to target critical civilian infrastructure across Ukraine, the PAP news agency reported.
He added that more than 1,700 war patients had so far been evacuated to various European Union countries, including more than 300 through the Jasionka hub.
“Thanks to the support of Poland, the EU and other countries we are able to persevere and continue our fight,” Liashko said, as quoted by the PAP news agency.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, 300polityka