War in Ukraine, Medici del Mondo: 'concerned about increasing number of attacks on health facilities'

By Cristiano Antonino Last updated Mar 18, 2022

We at Medici del Mondo are deeply concerned about the ongoing war in Ukraine. We are especially concerned about the increasing number of attacks on health facilities

Invasion of Ukraine, the position of Medici del Mondo Association

Civilians and civilian infrastructure are not targets.

They must remain unharmed.

We stand in solidarity with all victims of the war and their families and call on all parties involved to immediately stop the fighting, open humanitarian corridors and ensure full humanitarian access to the affected areas.

We strongly condemn the continued violation of international humanitarian law.

Recent attacks on medical facilities, residential areas and other civilian infrastructure are unacceptable.

According to the WHO, 18 attacks on Ukrainian hospitals and ambulances have been confirmed, with a higher number of attacks reported by eyewitnesses.

On Wednesday, among others, the maternity and children’s hospital in Mariupol was attacked and severely damaged (1).

This leaves many civilians without access to health care.

Attacks on health facilities are a serious violation of human rights and international humanitarian law and constitute war crimes.

The integrity of civilians and civilian infrastructure must be a top priority.

Civilians and humanitarian personnel must remain unharmed and civilian assets, in particular hospitals and infrastructure, must be preserved.

We join UN Security Council resolution 2573 (2021) which strongly condemns attacks against civilian infrastructure (2).

Especially the population of besieged cities and disputed areas such as Kiev, Charkiw, Mariupol as well as Donetsk and Luhansk are in need of humanitarian aid.

In total, OCHA estimates that about 6 million people are in need of humanitarian health assistance and 18 million have been affected by the war (3).

Once again, we urge all parties to ensure humanitarian access to the severely affected population by establishing at least humanitarian corridors and local ceasefires.

With rapidly increasing numbers of people fleeing the fighting in other areas or neighbouring countries, it is necessary to ensure safe migration channels for all, regardless of citizenship.

According to UNHCR, more than 2 million people have already fled the country, with an estimated 1.8 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) (4).

In this context, we are deeply concerned about reports of discriminatory treatment by state officials of non-European citizens attempting to flee combat zones and enter neighbouring countries (5).

All states considered safe countries must be open to people from affected regions.

This includes any country, even if it does not share a direct border with Ukraine.

With the outbreak of the war, the humanitarian crisis that already existed in eastern Ukraine has rapidly spread to the whole country and risks extending beyond its borders”.

Medici del Mondo on the situation in Ukraine: ‘We must act now, providing all the aid needed by those left in the conflict zones and those on the move’

Shortages of medical supplies and limited access to health facilities are already affecting a large part of the population (6).

In the face of the Ukrainian winter, particularly displaced persons and those in combat areas are in urgent need of adequate shelter, but also of food, hygiene, health care and access to information.

As most of the displaced are women and girls, special attention needs to be paid to sexual and reproductive health services and rights, as well as protection from gender-based violence.

Local civil society organisations know the needs of people in conflict situations, so they must be consulted and included in the planning of the political and humanitarian response.

Civilian infrastructure and especially health facilities must be built and strengthened in the affected areas.

In this context, MdM will support local authorities and health facilities in Ukraine and neighbouring countries to provide health care for all.

MdM has been providing humanitarian assistance and health services to vulnerable people living along the line of contact in the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts in eastern Ukraine for almost eight years.

During this time, we have carried out around 125,000 medical consultations.

Thanks to this work, we are well received in the country and intend to continue serving the population in the best possible way”.