31 December 2024 – Sunflower Scotland delivered medical supplies to the hospital in Shakhtarske. This is the first hospital down the road from Pokrovsk, the stronghold in central Donbas, where the bloodiest battle of the winter 2024-25 is taking place.

Shakhtarske is a small town. But its hospital has become critically important for the area. Before, people from Donbas were using hospitals in Pokrovsk, Kurahove and Myrnohrad. Now, Kurahove has already been occupied by the Russians, while Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad are a battle zone.
The wave of refugees is moving from Donbas, as the battles are inching closer and closer to Dnipro. People who have lost their homes come with injuries, burns and all sorts of issues caused by the enormous tragedy.
The small hospital is overwhelmed, and new patients are arriving every day. The medical team are working tirelessly. They don’t have enough supplies, and they asked us for help.
Request from the Infectious Diseases Unit
We have been supporting them since summer 2024. This time, the Infectious Diseases Unit asked us for mattresses, and for lots of t-shirts.
We weren’t surprised. Since there are so many new admissions, all hospitals in east Ukraine are out of patient gowns. Tetyana, the nurse who we spoke with, explained that new patients have nothing to wear. She and other nurses have been bringing t-shirts from their homes, but they simply don’t have enough.

Help from the UK
Back in Edinburgh, John Barrett – ex-MP for Edinburgh West – and many kind residents from Edinburgh’s Corstorphine area, answered our call. They donated and collected thirty bags of t-shirts, jumpers and other clothes.
We sincerely thank Forth Valley Chorus for donating lots of clothes. We brought some of it (t-shirts) to Shakhtarske, and the rest (jackets and jumpers) to Vovchansk villages, a couple of days later.
Our long-term partners – Prehospital Care and Aid Worldwide (registered charity based in Ipswich) – sent us first aid items and quite a few of NHS ambulance bags. These bags are sought after in Ukraine, because they are brilliant for ambulance crews.

Before setting off from Edinburgh, we compressed all t-shirts and clothes in vacuum bags. This way we were able to load much more clothes in our two vehicles.

Delivered as requested
We delivered the requested mattresses, t-shirts, and lots more. Oleg and Stevie visited Shakhtarske on the New Year’s eve, the 31st December. After unloading all the supplies, they carried on to Kharkiv, to continue their work and help other people.

0 Comments for “Supplies to frontline hospital in Shakhtarske”