Ukraine's Minister of Health reveals number of Ukrainian hospitals destroyed by Russians since beginning of full-scale war
Ukraine's medical infrastructure has suffered significantly in the full-scale Russian invasion, with 1,218 healthcare institutions damaged.
In particular, 540 hospitals were partially destroyed, and 173 were completely ruined.
Source: Viktor Liashko, Minister of Health of Ukraine, in an interview with Ukrinform
Details: As Liashko states, the Ukrainian government does not plan to rebuild the hospitals that have been destroyed by more than 90%. These hospitals will be built from scratch, according to a new project, he added.
Quote: "We have estimated the average price of all the facilities, and now we can actually talk about the amount of up to US$1 billion needed to rebuild medical institutions to the state they were in before 24 February," the minister emphasises.
Liashko also reported that many medical institutions are currently unavailable due to the war. For example, the damage in Mariupol is estimated using footage from video shootings.
Viktor Liashko adds that experts from the World Bank and the World Health Organisation estimate the losses to Ukraine's healthcare system at tens of billions of dollars. The most recent figure they presented was US$26 billion at the end of September 2022.
He emphasises that medical institutions in Kharkiv Oblast and the cities of Donetsk, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, and Kherson have suffered the greatest destruction due to active hostilities. Most healthcare facilities of various levels, from rural outpatient clinics to city hospitals, have been affected.
Viktor Liashko says that the infrastructure in the city of Kherson and Kherson Oblast is currently suffering the most, as the city is under constant fire. He added that on 29 January, the invaders hit the surgical building of the oblast hospital. A nurse and a nursing assistant were injured. They underwent surgery on the spot.
Background: Russian occupiers are obstructing the supply of medicines to the temporarily occupied territories and threatening medical workers with persecution, doing everything to ensure that Ukrainians have no chance of survival.
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