For almost a year of the full-scale war in Ukraine, the Ministry of Health, together with the European Commission, has been organizing evacuation flights for citizens affected by russia’s armed aggression.

This week, 28 patients were evacuated to Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, and Norway. The group includes patients with mine blast wounds and burn injuries, as well as civilians with cancer. In particular, these are people from Kharkiv, Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky, Dnipro, and Sumy regions. They will receive specialized treatment and further rehabilitation in foreign clinics.

Evacuation of civilians is carried out through an emergency response system of the European Union, whereby a specialized clinic for the treatment and rehabilitation of Ukrainians is promptly sought in one of the EU countries. The so-called “medical convoys” are an example of one of the effective ways to rescue patients, with the Ministry of Health submitting a request for evacuation and receiving proposals from different member states of the European Union and the European Economic Area. Then the Ministry contacts the clinic and agrees on steps and routes of safe medical transportation.

First, patients are transported from a hospital in the frontline area through a medical hub in Lviv to an airfield in Poland. Then, air hospitals or special air transport deliver Ukrainians to European countries for specialized treatment.

Please note that if you or your loved one needs medical evacuation, you should contact your family doctor first. Communication between the Ministry of Health and family doctors is ongoing and uninterrupted. However, there is another way to apply for the Medical Evacuation Program, as many people may have lost contact with their family doctor due to the ongoing hostilities, shelling and/or occupation of some regions of Ukraine. To do this, you need to fill out a preliminary application for the Medical Evacuation Program on the Ministry’s website under the “For Citizens” section.