More than 4.5 million people have left Ukraine since the start of the war on February 24, according to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR). Israeli health professionals mobilized a clinic in Poland to care for this population. In an interview with CNN this Monday (11), the director of Hadassah International, Jorge Diener, explained how the support to refugees works.
According to Diener, most of the population treated at the clinic is women and children. “Now, we are receiving people in a more difficult situation, who arrive in a worse situation, with more problems and more sick people, who have been through a lot of tragedy. People who left without medicine, who don’t have drugs to deal with problems to save their lives,” she says.
The team also takes care of physical health problems resulting from the impacts of bombing, such as cuts and burns, and resulting from the precarious conditions at the time of the escape. The specialist highlights that the reception is also essential to minimize the impacts on the mental health of refugees.
“The profile is of people who arrive at the border with their lives broken. […] All this work that we’re doing has this very important emotional aspect. The hug that the doctor, the nurse gives to each of the patients who arrive at the clinic is as important as the drugs, as the treatment and therapy they give”, he highlights.
In addition to face-to-face assistance, the team provides consultations by telephone with doctors of different specialties, directly from Israel. The work allows for the continuity of monitoring of previous illnesses, such as people with cancer or heart disease.
“On a normal day, cancer specialists and heart specialists call three to four times, who have direct attention from Israel for the refugees who are arriving here every day at the border,” he says.
Source: CNN Brasil
