Government establishes rules for the operation of healthcare facilities during air raid alerts

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has set out the procedure for how healthcare facilities — including primary and outpatient care, emergency medical services, blood services, and others — must operate during air raid alerts. The new rules are designed to safeguard both patients and medical staff while ensuring the continuity of care that cannot safely be interrupted. The decision follows logically from the introduction of the new two-tier air alert system — yellow and red — and sets out separate operating rules for the healthcare system under each level.

Under the yellow-level threat (drone attacks), healthcare facilities continue operating as normal in their usual premises, while ensuring that staff, patients, and visitors have access to shelters. However, whether to move to a shelter or remain on the premises is left to each individual's own discretion.

Under the red-level threat (missile, missile-and-drone, or mass drone attacks), staff and patients must move to a shelter, provided this can be done within a reasonable time and without creating additional risk to life; otherwise, they must remain in the areas of lowest risk within the facility. At the same time, medical care that cannot be interrupted without endangering a patient's life or health must continue. If a facility relocates its operations to a shelter or another lower-risk area during an alert, the provision of medical care and the placement of patients there is permitted under defined conditions.

Separate rules have been established for the operation of the emergency medical service. Dispatch centres must continue to receive and process calls without interruption, regardless of the threat level. However, dispatch points must be located in shelters, and doctors must also remain in shelters between call-outs. Ambulance crews will respond to strike locations based on available information about the safety of accessing them.

The new rules also stipulate that patients requiring emergency and urgent medical care must be admitted regardless of the threat level.

In this way, the new procedure establishes unified rules for how the healthcare system operates during enemy attacks and allows facilities to act accordingly. The key principle underpinning the approved document is ensuring people's safety without interrupting medical care that cannot be delayed.