Cutting travel time severalfold: Ukraine will resume air medical evacuations, PM says

Ukraine will resume air medical evacuations of patients using aircraft operated by the State Emergency Service by the end of 2026, significantly reducing patient transport times, Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi has said.

Source: Koretskyi on Telegram

Quote: "We are resuming air medical evacuations of patients… The government has approved the procedure for organising these operations… We plan for the mechanism to become operational by the end of the year."

Details: Koretskyi noted that this will significantly reduce the time required to transport patients requiring urgent specialised medical care and enable Ukrainians to be taken abroad for treatment.

"For example, a journey from Kharkiv to the evacuation hub in Poland's Rzeszów by road can currently take 15-16 hours. By air, the journey can be completed in two to three hours," the prime minister said.

He added that donor organs for transplantation, medical teams and the necessary equipment will also be transported by air.

The evacuations will be coordinated by the Ukrainian Scientific and Practical Centre for Emergency Medical Care and Disaster Medicine of the Ministry of Health, while the State Emergency Service will provide the aircraft and crews.

Koretskyi stressed that medical evacuations will be carried out in accordance with the security situation and weather conditions.

Your support on Patreon helps us keep the news free and accessible.