Last Saturday, a mobile team of Ukrainian healthcare professionals set off for Italy to render assistance to their Italian colleagues in the fight against coronavirus. This is an act of humanitarian assistance to the country that is one of the epicenters of the epidemic in Europe today, and the country where Ukrainian expatriate community (diaspora) of thousands of people lives.

In addition to directly rendering the assistance, their mission is to gain valuable experience for Ukraine, which has not yet entered the epidemiological peak. Ukrainian doctors will learn advanced protocols and methods of treating the disease. Best practices will then be implemented at home.  

The delegation includes 10 healthcare professionals from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. These are infectious disease specialists, resuscitators, surgeons, anesthetists, endocrinologists, neuropathologists and medical nurses.

Vadym Novynskyi's Foundation in Honour of the Intercession of the Most Holy Mother of God was among the first to respond to the call of the government and state authorities to help in fighting the spread of the infection. We have been coordinating our actions with the Ministry of Health from the first days. In close cooperation with the Ministry, the Foundation purchased thousands of personal protective gear sets for medical staff, as well as reinforced respirators, goggles, bioprotective suits, and other medical equipment. All this has been handed over to regional hospitals and is now used by doctors who are at the forefront of the fight against the spread of the infection.

Today we are given the honorable opportunity to provide financial support to doctors who have been commissioned to Italy through the Ministry of Health. Each of them received a personal scholarship from the Foundation to support their 14-day stay abroad.

Earlier, the Foundation, together with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, purchased and delivered to hospitals throughout Ukraine 100,000 PCR tests produced in South Korea. The Foundation is also in the process of purchasing and delivering to Ukraine high-quality and highly efficient lung ventilators. The first ten ventilators have been delivered to Ukraine, and now they are used in hospitals to save lives of Ukrainian citizens.