A team of four doctors, two Portuguese and two Portuguese-Ukrainians, will leave for Ukraine on Friday for a humanitarian mission to transport seriously ill patients, organized by the Medical Association (OM) with the support of the Ministry of Health.
The coordinator of the Humanitarian Support Office of the Ordem dos Médicos (GAHOM), Vítor Almeida, explained to journalists in Porto on Monday that the mission includes three courses on the transportation of critically ill patients and that doctors, nurses and emergency care.
“The training is dedicated to the transportation of critically ill patients using biomedical simulation. The course has existed in Portugal for many years and can be implemented and adapted in Ukraine,” says Vítor Almeida.
The doctor emphasized the presence in the team of a pediatrician from Hospital D. Estefânia, in Lisbon, specialized in the transport of seriously ill patients, and explained the relevance of this training in the daily life of a country at war.
“The war is very focused on the battlefront. But much of the country is operating economically, albeit with restrictions. The hospitals that are in the battle line have an extreme urge to adapt because they have casualties as a result of the war, but they must maintain their normal day-to-day operations. The level of quality that we offer in the hospital should not decrease during transport.” said the coordinator.
And he illustrated: “Diabetics continue to exist, heart attacks continue to occur, hip fractures also in the elderly”.
Vítor Almeida pointed out that “the need to transfer patients to quieter and safer back hospitals is one of the major challenges” currently facing Ukrainian health services, something that is not exclusive to Ukraine.
“Turkey, with the earthquake, has this problem and is transferring patients to inland cities,” he added.
The team of doctors that will leave on this mission consists of two Portuguese and two Portuguese-Ukrainians.
They will be hosted in Ternopil, by the local Faculty of Medicine, and will work in a simulation center that Vítor Almeida says is “a European reference”.
“With this committee we will also help them to get certified at European level,” said the head of GAHOM.
In conversation with journalists, Vítor Almeida emphasized that Portugal currently has Portuguese doctors in Congo, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Chile, Turkey, among others, through the International Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders.
For, the President of the Public Prosecution Service, Miguel Guimarães, and the Minister of Health, Manuel Pizarro, signed a protocol of cooperation aimed at institutional support of the custody of these missions organized by GAHOM.
It was also announced that the trip between Portugal and Warsaw (Poland, a country bordering Ukraine) is provided by TAP, while the residence is in charge of the Ternopil faculty.
OM is responsible for defraying the remaining costs, as well as insurance, and the Ministry of Health is responsible for providing consular support and guaranteeing the work permits of these doctors who will be absent from their usual duties at the hospital for approximately three weeks. the National Health Service.
Since this is not the first mission organized by the OM to Ukraine, but leaves symbolically when a year of war has begun, Miguel Guimarães pointed out that he expected to “train at least 50 Ukrainian professionals” and argued that this agency could provide support in other scenarios such as Africa, for example.
The health minister, on the other hand, emphasized the support that Portugal is giving to Ukraine, namely with the “immediate” reception of 52,000 refugees and the delivery of 10.5 million packs of medicines.
Manuel Pizarro revealed that seven Ukrainian patients are currently being treated in Portuguese hospitals: six children and one adult.
Source: DN
