On Friday, the health minister of Germany, Karl Lauterbach, said that Germany will provide medical aid for victims of the war in Ukraine. This initiative will include the building of trauma centers around the country for the wounded, as well as the donation of prosthetic limbs and the deployment of trained doctors from Germany to help Ukraine’s soldiers and the population.
During a trip to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, the minister said Ukraine has an equal need for humanitarian aid and military support. In addition to providing prostheses, Germany will deploy 200 doctors to Ukraine, set up training for treating burns, and connect some Ukrainian hospitals to a telemedicine system, the ministry said in a statement.
Ottobock, Germany’s largest artificial limb maker, is already in talks with the health ministry about producing and fitting prostheses in mobile workshops as well as training orthopedic specialists there.
Ottobock maintains partnerships in Ukraine and continues to supply products there, and the container workshops would enable supplies to be delivered anywhere the network was destroyed during wartime.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, several hundred attacks on healthcare facilities have been reported by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The German government has provided over 100 million euros (USD 105.76 million) in medical aid to Ukraine so far, and the German healthcare industry has donated over 100 million euros as well, the ministry said.