“Occupiers Can Blackmail Patients with Medicines to Force Them to Cooperate,” Liashko

Viktor Liashko, Minister of Health, reported this during his briefing at Media Center Ukraine — Ukrinform.

“Today, the Red Cross and the Médecins Sans Frontières, closely communicating with the Health Ministry, work on delivering vitally important medicines to the occupied territories. There are also other ways to help, but I cannot discuss them openly because of the risk that occupiers would force people to cooperate using medicines to blackmail them,” he stated.

According to Liashko, the Health Ministry works on being able to carry out studies rapidly and detect potential outbreaks of infectious diseases in the occupied territories and near the front line.

“We monitor both patients and the environment in the Ukrainian government-controlled territories to be able to respond to outbreaks of infectious diseases as soon as possible. It is harder to do this work in the occupied territories, but we are doing whatever we can,” the Health Minister emphasized.

Viktor Liashko said that medical facilities in de-occupied territories are re-opened immediately or, in the case of complicated logistics, mobile ambulance teams are deployed.

“We have already come up with a plan for the recovery of Ukraine’s health sector. By now, we have restored 32 healthcare facilities of the Ministry of Health. The Primary Healthcare Centers will keep working in the adapted spaces while their premises are being rebuilt and renovated,” he said.

Read more: https://mediacenter.org.ua/news