Canadian-funded aid group leads mission to deliver medical supplies in Ukraine

“Promiscuous” by Nelly Furtado and Timbaland plays over the speakers as a Toyota Tundra follows a tractor-trailer laden with humanitarian aid to a dangerous region in eastern Ukraine.

A small convoy carrying 20 tons of medical supplies is heading to Balakriya, a part of the country recaptured by Ukrainian forces in September after six months of brutal Russian occupation. Their mission to help the devastated area traverses areas where Russian artillery fire continues. In Kupiansk, not far from Balakliya, shells continue to rain.

At the wheel of the Tundra last Friday was Dr. Christian Caller, a French pediatrician. With his partner Tetyana Grebenchykova, Canada, he runs the Association for International Health Cooperation, a non-governmental organization supported by the Ukrainian Foundation and the Ontario government.

From the Poltava warehouse to Balakliya, it takes 5 hours including a minivan in front of the tractor trailer. The distance is only 200 km. The roads are littered with dropped bombs and frequent stops at military checkpoints guarding against Russian incursions.

The old adventurer-looking pediatrician has been on the scene since 2014, helping people in the Donbass region after the Russian invasion. Last January, he suspected that his menacing neighbor in Ukraine was up to something.

“There were strange gatherings and constant provocations,” Carrer said while driving.

His organization began having various supplies, especially bandages, placed ahead of the feared attack. The last hospital was delivered on February 24, when Russia started the war, he said.

“The people who funded us trusted us because we sensed an attack,” he said.

Canada is the third most generous contributor to his group, with donations coming from France, the US and the UK.

The organization is well-stocked, familiar with the terrain, and is focused on a few governorates in the northeastern part of the country. We have more than 800 items from general medicines to specialty medicines that hospitals and pharmacies in the disaster area can order.

Even in officially liberated areas, the need remains acute.

Roads cross vast plains, and village after village is being demolished, gas stations and other businesses closed. Crops remain in the field without being harvested. The tires gurgle incessantly as they drive over asphalt pierced by constant tank traffic.

The scars of war’s suffering and destruction are everywhere, leaving little for the inhabitants to survive. The occupiers emptied pharmacies and looted hospitals.

The convoy passes through Chufuib, a municipality where the International Medical Cooperation Association placed medical supplies prior to the war but was later occupied. “The Russians took everything,” says Carrer, who has lived in Ukraine since 2006.

He described the health of those who spent weeks in the shelter as pathetic as “zombie”. Some are missing teeth, he said, and visiting doctors are shocked by the results.

As a pediatrician, he is particularly concerned about the condition of pregnant women, young mothers, and their children.

Upon reaching Balakriya, a dilapidated city with several buildings completely destroyed, aid supplies worth $4 million are unloaded into an old warehouse. It will then be distributed to his eight municipalities in the region. The small welcoming committee includes Stepan Masersky, manager of the southern Ijum district.

“This aid is very important because we are still at war,” Maselski said in an interview. There was no electricity, no water, the occupation was painful, no medicine, no medical supplies, no good food.”

Forklifts empty pallets from tractor trailers containing drugs to treat chronic diseases, epilepsy, heart disease, surgical anesthetics, surgical instruments, bandages, gloves, stethoscopes, diapers, and more. Infant malnutrition is so prevalent that there is even formula, says Carrer.

“Women who have given birth often have trouble breastfeeding because of stress or circumstances,” he explained. I got

There are also supply kits for those who have lost their homes, and crates of missing pet food.

A special large red bag resembling an insulated delivery bag is handed to Paulina, a medical worker who intervenes in providing emergency care throughout the region. It’s a kit devised by a Californian doctor to treat people in conflict zones, including landmine injuries and heart attacks. Paulina says the supplies are of excellent quality and are much needed.

When the forklift breaks down, the unloading operation is suddenly interrupted. But Ukrainians are creative. They pull an old forklift with a tractor to get it out of the way.

Hoping for the adaptability of Ukrainians, Carrer’s group also delivered numerous warm blankets and small wood-burning stoves manufactured in the Poltava region for residents who had no way to heat their homes due to the blackout.

Caller said there are complex reasons why the Ukrainian government is struggling to provide basic services in liberated areas. For one thing, he explains, the medical budget has been cut by about a fifth to fund the war. And the annual delivery of equipment and funding for the medical system takes place in February or March, when the Russians invaded. The number of refugees is also depleting local resources.

“The need is huge in all hospitals,” he says. “And now it’s serious. We’re seeing hospitals stretched to their limits. Previously he used to deliver two boxes, now per pallet, gypsum, gloves, cotton We deliver basic supplies such as

Dawn comes early and it’s cold. The rig is empty and it’s time to leave so the group can pass all the checkpoints on the way back to Poltava. Carrier knows his group will likely have to return soon with another package.

“Either a good person comes to help us, or we get a call a month later. We are the first to help, and maybe the last to help.” .”

This report by the Canadian Press was first published on November 28, 2022.

— Patrice Bergeron is a Quebec-based journalist with The Canadian Press. In addition to his 20 years of political and general news experience, he served as his CP war correspondent in Afghanistan in 2009.