Russian rockets struck in July 2024 the Ohmatdyt Children's Hospital
Since the beginning of the war, one of the worst and most extensive air attacks on Kiev has taken place. Unfortunately, Russian missiles have also hit the Ohmatdyt children's hospital, which needs funding for reconstruction and operation.
Ukraine’s most important hospital
Ohmatdyt Kyiv is Ukraine's largest children's hospital, dedicated to saving young lives since 1894. With 720 beds, it treats over 20,000 patients and performs more than 9,000 surgeries annually.
The name of the hospital is not an accident. It means 'protection of motherhood and childhood,' and is well known across Ukraine — there isn't a family that hasn't heard of Ohmatdyt. It stands as one of the nation's most vital and renowned medical institutions.
The range of operations performed at Ohmatdyt is exceptionally broad. The hospital’s doctors specialize in reconstructive and plastic surgery, bone marrow transplants, surgical correction of congenital anomalies in newborns, advanced care for extremely premature infants, oncological neurosurgery, and other highly specialized procedures that are not available at any other facility in the country.
However, the key area is oncology. The Tabletochki Foundation, which helps children with cancer, operates within Ohmatdyt. For the past 13 years alone, this foundation has raised nearly $23 million USD and helped thousands of children.
Hospital under rubble
"Russian terrorists again attacked Ukraine with missiles. Various cities: Kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Slovjansk, Kramatorsk. More than 40 rockets of different types. Residential buildings, infrastructure and a children's hospital were damaged," Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyj, informed the world on Telegram at the time.
On Monday, July 8, during the attack, over 100 people were injured, and at least 21 lost their lives. Among them, 2 people died, and 16 were seriously injured at Ohmatdyt Hospital. Thanks to the dedication and efforts of the medical staff, no children died during the attack on Ohmatdyt. Sadly, this was not the case elsewhere. On the same day, for example, 11 people, including 4 children, were found dead in the Ševčenkov district.
Lesia Lysytsi, a doctor working at the hospital, described to the British news website BBC News that "it was like a movie" and "first there was a light and then a terrible sound". "One part of the hospital was destroyed and there was a fire in another. The hospital is really badly damaged, maybe 60 to 70 percent of the hospital is damaged," the doctor described. Images from the scene show young children, some with IVs in place, in front of the ruins of the hospital during the evacuation.
"I don't understand how people can be such animals. Not even animals do anything like that. These aren't even animals. I don't understand how these pilots can launch missiles. They know the coordinates, they know the goals...," says cardiologist Alla Nesolionova, who works in the cardiology department of the hospital (Kyiv Independent).
"It was terrifying. I couldn't breathe. I tried to cover my child. I tried to cover him with a piece of cloth so he could breathe," 33-year-old, Svetlana Kravchenko recalled (Reuters). “Parents holding their children in their arms outside a hospital, shaken and crying after a rocket attack that took place in broad daylight. Windows are broken, panels are torn out, and hundreds of residents of Kyiv are helping to clear the debris," the agency describes.
The bombing here also damaged Ukraine's most sophisticated laboratory for testing and confirming certain types of cancer. "It's scary because it's the only reference laboratory in Ukraine that confirms all oncohematological diseases," said Dr. Natalia Molodets, Head of the Department of Pediatric Hematology at Odesa Regional Children's Hospital.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), since the beginning of the war, 1,878 attacks have been confirmed in Ukraine, when medical workers, medical facilities and medical transports were targeted. In these attacks, 148 people died and another 359 were injured, among the dead and injured were medical professionals, patients, and their relatives. Most often, these were attacks with heavy weapons. Ukraine thus became the most dangerous country for health workers in the world.
Help with VAKOVAKO
The hospital is still partially paralyzed after the attack and needs financial help. The rocket attack caused an incredible wave of solidarity, and donors from all over the world are sending money to the Ohmatdyt Hospital's collection account for the reconstruction of buildings and the restoration of destroyed medical equipment.
Contributions to the collection account of the Tabletochki Foundation, which finances the treatment of oncologically ill children in Ohmatdyt, are also important. Their treatment is all the more demanding and expensive due to the problematic conditions.
Support the reconstruction of Ohmatdyt Children's Hospital and the care of its most vulnerable patients — children with cancer. 100% of your donations will be distributed proportionally between the Ohmatdyt Children's Hospital fund and the Tabletochki Foundation.
Let’s stand with Ukraine. Donate with VAKOVAKO.
Copyright of some photos by Oleksandr Gusev
