Patients ‘dying of hunger & cold’: WHO raises alarm over healthcare in Ukraine

The lack of doctors and medicines in the eastern Ukrainian conflict zone is putting lives at risk says a new World Health Organization report, which describes the situation on the ground as “not just a humanitarian crisis.”
“No child has been vaccinated in the areas affected by conflict since September 2014, sending polio vaccine coverage down to less than 30-40 percent,” the WHO report reads.
Fears of Ukraine becoming increasingly vulnerable to preventable diseases are becoming ever more real.
READ MORE: Polio epidemic fears as Ukraine’s vaccine stockpiles dry up
The report comes up with more “daunting” statistics in the section titled “Not just a humanitarian crisis,” where it speaks about the first casualties of the botched healthcare system.
“About 40 patients in a mental health institution have reportedly died from hunger, cold and lack of care,” it says.
The WHO argues 60 villages situated in between the front lines of the Kiev troops and the rebels have been left with no medical personnel at all. It also estimates the city of Lugansk has only a third of the doctors and nurses that used to work there.

Patients in the corridor of a department in the Gorlovka city hospital. (RIA Novosti/Mikhail Voskresenskiy)

“Universal health care exists only on paper,” says Dorit Nitzan, the WHO representative for Ukraine. “People have to pay for a large portion of health services, procure their own medicines and there are no set prices for these essentials.”
READ MORE: http://rt.com/news/213547-who-ukraine-health-crisis/