EU sends some of Poland's Ukrainian patients to other member states
The EU has transferred 47 Ukrainian hospital patients from Poland to facilities in other European countries as part of a programme to relieve the healthcare systems of the countries neighbouring Ukraine.
Stella Kyriakides, the EU Health Commissioner, told the Polish newspaper Dziennik Gazeta Prawna on Friday that the European Union has secured the first 10,000 beds for the treatment of the sick and injured victims of the Ukraine war across the bloc.
"We have set up a European system which will allow us to transfer, in a safe and swift way, those patients in need of treatment," she said.
Kyriakides added that it was very important that the healthcare systems of countries bordering Ukraine are not overburdened.
The pool of 10,000 hospital beds for refugee patients from Ukraine include beds for sick children, cancer patients, patients with burns and those needing intensive care, she said.
Kyriakides added that the patients will be redirected to other member states, together with their family members, if possible.
She said that, so far, 47 patients had been transferred from Poland, at the country's request, to Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Romania and Luxembourg.
"It is important that those people, those vulnerable people, patients, are allowed to continue with their treatment," Kyriakides said.
She also said that the bloc had earmarked EUR 17 billion towards supporting the reception of Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in EU countries since February 24, and that EUR 3.4 billion would be made available as soon as possible under the Cohesion Funds, but that there was no separate pool of money for medical treatment.
