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Israel to set up field hospital in Western Ukraine

“It is our moral duty to increase humanitarian aid and extend assistance to the people of Ukraine,” says Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz.

Israel prepares a field hospital at Sheba Medical Center that will be transported to Ukraine on March 5, 2022. Credit: Sheba Medical Center.
Israel prepares a field hospital at Sheba Medical Center that will be transported to Ukraine on March 5, 2022. Credit: Sheba Medical Center.

Israel will set up a field hospital in Ukraine next week, according to the country’s Ministry of Health.

“This is the least we can do to help the Ukrainian people in the face of a brutal Russian invasion,” Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said on Sunday morning during a visit to the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, where the components of the field hospital are being prepared.

The hospital is being built through a collaboration between the state, Sheba and HMO Clalit Health Services, and will be staffed by their own personnel and that of other Israeli hospitals.

It will include an internal-medicine ward for adults and children, an emergency room, delivery room and primary-care clinic, the ministry said. It will also use advanced remote telemedicine technologies spearheaded by Sheba.

“It is our moral duty to increase humanitarian aid and extend assistance to the people of Ukraine,” said Horowitz. “We will continue to help as much as necessary to save the lives of citizens whose worlds have been destroyed in an instant,” he added.

Israel prepares a field hospital to be sent to Ukraine. Credit: Israeli Health Ministry.

Horowitz noted that he was “excited” to see the preparations for the hospital underway at Sheba, but distraught knowing that “the Israeli delegation will have a lot of work to do.”

“This is the least we can do as human beings for the sake of other human beings,” he added. “Just as we want them [the world] to come to our aid in times of distress, we, too, have a moral obligation to do so for other peoples and countries.”

Professor Yitshak Kreiss, director-general of Sheba, said that “it is our personal and national responsibility to extend a helping hand to every human being. We have the knowledge and capability to carry out this mission.”

Professor Elhanan Bar-On, director of the Center for Disaster Medicine & Humanitarian Response at Sheba Medical Center, left on Monday morning for Poland with a small delegation that will cross into Ukraine and assess the situation ahead of the arrival of the larger team of 80 volunteers.

“We will set up a field hospital that will be able to treat mainly the refugees,” he said. “There are more than a million refugees on their way from Ukraine to Poland. Of course, we will treat anyone who comes to our hospital regardless of creed, nationality or religion.”

The Health Ministry last week dispatched planes with medical equipment and medicine to Ukraine.

In addition, a delegation led by Israel’s Dr. Dorit Nitzan left with a team of physicians, nurses, social workers and a logistics expert from hospitals around Israel on a humanitarian aid mission to Poland through the NATAN Worldwide Disaster Relief organization. She and her team are expected to be in the area for at least the next two months.

Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz (left) with Sheba Medical Center Director-General Yishak Kreiss. Credit: Israeli Health Ministry.
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