The Italian Ambassador to Ukraine Carlo Formosa visited the “Okhmatdyt” children’s hospital in Kiev, which was severely damaged during Russia’s bombing of the Ukrainian capital. The Head of Mission was accompanied by staff from the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) in Kiev and humanitarian workers from the Italian organisation Soleterre.
The Ambassador, while inspecting in person the serious damage suffered by the hospital, where two people were killed and thirty-two were injured as a result of the attack, met with Director General Volodymyr Zhovnir, Medical Director Serghiy Chernyshuk and the hospital staff. The Head of Mission reported Italy’s sympathy for the victims and the terrible devastation suffered, and expressed the Country’s readiness to contribute to the management of the emergency and the reconstruction of the hospital, starting with the projects already benefiting the structure as part of Italian Cooperation support.
The hospital, which treats more than 20 thousand children a year and offers medical consultations to more than 65 thousand patients, is one of the priorities of Italian Cooperation’s efforts in Ukraine: at the Okhmatdyt hospital, the Italian civil society organisation Soleterre – in cooperation with local partner Zaporuka Foundation – was working on the construction of a new physical rehabilitation ward with twenty beds, through a project financed with 100 thousand euros by the Italian Cooperation. As part of the same initiative, rehabilitation equipment and consumables worth more than 90 thousand euros had also been purchased in recent months: these included exercise machines, verticalization systems, ceiling lifts, and water baths for the production of orthoses, many of which were unfortunately lost or damaged during the attack. Soleterre, through the support of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, also supported and financed the presence of qualified medical staff to provide both physical rehabilitation (for the wounded or disabled) and psychological support.
In 2023, thanks to the Cooperation funds, and through a program implemented by the Italian civil society organisation Terre des Hommes, the same hospital received medicines difficult to obtain in Ukraine to facilitate the care of young patients at the hospital.
Both initiatives fall under the tenders for civil society organisations funded by Italian Cooperation, totalling EUR 60.5 million. AICS has been working in the field of health in Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion: between 2022 and 2024, it launched 24 projects dedicated to the health, protection, and wellbeing of the population, totalling more than EUR 20 million.
