Bucks hospitals rally to deliver urgent supplies to Ukraine

Led by Ukrainian doctor practicing in the UK, Dr Sergey Tadtayev – a consultant urologist surgeon, staff at Chiltern in Great Missenden, and Shelburne Hospital have managed to deliver supplies to the war-torn country.

Circle Health Group, Sergey’s hospital operator, has also played a key role in getting the urgent supplies to Ukraine.

In response to direct requests from Ukrainian doctors, the hospitals have worked with the Ukrainian doctors’ union (Ukraine Medical Association) and the British Red Cross to identify needs in war-hit hospitals.

Also, Sergey has galvanised his Circle colleagues to gather 10-truck loads including 200 pallets of vital kit and medical supplies from across the group’s national network of 53 hospitals.

Sergey said: “My heart breaks for my fellow doctors back home who are fighting heroically to care for the sick and wounded – even as the bombs continue to fall.

"Hospitals are struggling to get basic supplies because transport and manufacturing have been so badly disrupted, so I knew I had to do something to help.

“Moving 100+ tonnes of medical supplies between hospitals separated by thousands of miles and several borders has been an incredible team effort, and I have been overwhelmed by the generosity of my colleagues at Circle Health Group.

"They are moving heaven and earth to get help to those who really need it on the frontline, and I am humbled by the solidarity and support for my homeland.”

Ventilators, crutches, walking frames, respiratory masks, scrubs, bandages, wound kits, operating tables and other medical supplies have been stock-piled from Circle hospitals across the country and delivered directly to the doors of five hospitals covering North, South, East and West Ukraine.

Upon receipt of the urgent supplies, the hospitals distribute a portion to local community hospitals.

A team of volunteers from the UK, Poland and Ukraine have made the journey on a weekly basis since 15 March to deliver urgent supplies, navigating their way through war-torn regions and areas of conflict to reach the hospitals in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Odessa and Lviv.

Circle Health Group has committed to continue the weekly delivery programme for as long as the supplies are required.

The latest delivery, which departed the UK on Wednesday 13 April and arrived at a Kharkiv hospitals on Easter Sunday (17 April), contained £185,500 of medical equipment loaded on 35 pallets, including five ventilators, an operating table, patient monitors, suction tubing and chest drainage sets and sterile gowns.

One of the hospitals’ opthalmic consultants, Mandeep Bindra, and Healthcare Assistant Adinda Ecott, co-ordinated the collection of supplies ranging from blankets to hot water bottles and baby food. Mandeep personally drove the supplies to two collection centres, one in Hounslow and one at the Olympic Lodge in Aylesbury.

The collected items will then be transported by lorry to the Polish border where they will be given to Ukrainian families.

Overall, £1.4 million worth of supplies have been sent from Circle Health Group hospitals.

Paolo Pieri, CEO of Circle Health Group, said: ‘We’re so grateful to the hundreds of people across the country who have contributed to this effort, from staff to partners and suppliers, and the brave drivers who have put themselves at considerable personal risk."