Emergency Consumables Distribution to Critically Important Hospitals in Eastern Ukraine
Situation:
According to the OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) overview of the current most urgent humanitarian needs in Ukraine in 2023, almost 15 million people in Ukraine require humanitarian aid in the health sector due to the direct and indirect effects of the war. Despite the war, the Ministry of Health and the National Health Service of Ukraine are continuing to operate more or less normally. However, the overall functioning of the healthcare system has been affected by attacks on infrastructure (WHO has identified more than 1000 attacks on healthcare facilities since February 24, 2022), leading to disruptions in services and utilities (e.g. electricity, water, etc.), increasing the needs of the population and worsening the economic situation.
In addition to the direct impact of damage to health facilities and infrastructure and security risks, the population's access to medicines, health and social services has been indirectly affected by the lack of medicines in pharmacies, the rising cost of medicines, problems with transportation and the lack of financial resources to pay for expenses. With the ongoing conflict, many households are depleting their savings, making them financially vulnerable, and they are using negative coping strategies to reduce their expenses. Among IDPs, 54% reported reducing their spending on healthcare. Many people have stopped their medication because it is unaffordable or unavailable, with unaffordability increasing over time.
Objectives:
The aim of the project is to close the urgent gaps in the supply of medicines and consumables in the following 3 selected hospitals in eastern Ukraine:
- Regional Ophthalmological Hospital, Dnipro
- Dnipro City Hospital, Intensive Care Unit (ICU)
- Apostolivka district clinic
- there is an updated and verified list of urgently needed items for all selected hospitals.
- all requested items for each of the 3 hospitals have been procured
- all requested items are distributed to the hospitals
Measure 1 (in the first 4 weeks): Update of ad hoc needs in the selected hospitals, coordination, verification and validation of medical requests with the Dnipro Health Sub-National Cluster chaired by WHO to ensure delineation of assistance.
Measure 2 (in the following 4 weeks): Procurement of consumables and medicines. Procurement is carried out according to precise procurement guidelines that guarantee a transparent and inclusive process: offers are obtained from several independent suppliers (medical wholesalers, pharmaceutical companies). Based on a comparative analysis of price, availability, delivery options and reliability of the company, the supplier is selected by the procurement committee in a transparent and documented manner.
Measure 3 (in the last 4 weeks): Delivery and distribution. Once procurement is complete, the often complicated logistics are organized. Delivery and distribution are carried out as part of a larger humanitarian convoy to the areas where the hospitals are located. Some of them are only 20-30 km away from the front line. This means that logistics must be carried out in strict accordance with the national security briefing and specified security guidelines.
The main objective is to maintain the functionality of the health system as far as war activities allow.
The special feature of this project is that it has to be carried out under wartime conditions.
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