Ukraine War06 May, 20262 min read
WHO Says War Forces Children With Cancer From Kyiv Hospital To Lviv Near Polish Border
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Bombardments intensify around Kyiv and Lviv, disrupting hospitals and forcing displacement. Hospitals face chaotic conditions as civilians flee to border regions for care.
Cancer care disrupted
As the war intensifies in Ukraine, hundreds of children with cancer have been forced to flee their homes or hospital beds and embark on a dangerous journey to resume treatment, the World Health Organization said. Leonid (8) was forced to leave a Kyiv hospital as bombardments intensified, and his mother Anna recalled, “The journey was long and distressing, and Leonid was terrified by the shells and bombs.”
Leonid arrived safely at the Western Ukraine Specialized Medical Center for Children in Lviv near the Polish border and resumed his cancer therapy, but Anna learned that his tumor had progressed and said, “We want to go to Poland as soon as possible so that our son can receive standard treatment.” The WHO said it coordinates humanitarian health aid with partners within Ukraine and at its borders, and it is establishing a support center for Ukraine in Poland while working to ensure neighboring countries have the infrastructure and expertise needed for a large influx of refugees.
Transit hub on border
In Poland, a medical evacuation point in Jasionka has become a transit hub for Ukrainian patients injured or ill who will continue treatment in European hospitals, according to El Mundo. Paramedic Adam Szyszka described the MEDEVAC Hub as a place where “We are facing a war, everything is unpredictable, we do not know how many patients will arrive or in what condition,” and he said the first priority is ensuring the patient survives the journey.
El Mundo said the hub can receive about 50 people at a time, with 20 lying down and another 30 seated or walking, and it noted that since 2022 more than 3,800 people have passed through the hub in both directions. The article said the profile of patients includes “Around 60% are trauma cases and about 30% correspond to oncological patients,” and it described children who are “also burned and other people who need prostheses” among those treated there.
Aid, evacuation, and training
Across the border region, French medical and humanitarian support is being organized for Ukraine, including the Poitiers University Hospital Centre’s hosting of two radiology residents from the Lviv medical group since May 19, the Site du CHU de Poitiers said. The Poitiers CHU said the Lviv Hospital Group has a total of 2,500 beds and that since February 24, 2022 it has treated more than 11,000 injured people, including 950 children with injuries caused by mines and burns.
In a separate account from Sud Ouest, a convoy of supplies and medicines traveled to Poland after a Russian bombardment of a children’s hospital in Ukraine, and one organizer said, “We all said we couldn't stand by without acting.” Sud Ouest also described the French NGO Corridor Citoyen and a shopping center transformed into a reception center in Poland, where the NGO and Polish police carried out identity checks before a group of eight Ukrainian refugees left toward Pauillac with mothers and four children.