Published on 25 October 2022
Thank you to everyone who has already donated to Baby Lifeline’s Ukraine Appeal, enabling vital maternity equipment to be delivered to midwives and doctors working in some of the most dangerous areas of Ukraine.
Last Thursday (20 October 2022), five of Baby Lifeline’s out of hospital birth bags were taken to a hospital in the south of the country. They were among the £17,000 of equipment driven to Ukraine by human right’s lawyer Andrea Fraser earlier this month.
Breaking the Chains, an organisation providing relief and support on-the-ground, took the birth bags and other vital supplies provided by Baby Lifeline, including fetal dopplers – ultrasound devices used to monitor babies’ heart beats – to the hospital.
One member of the hospital team described her delight at receiving one of our birth bags, which each cost £1,000 to put together.
“It’s just salvation,” she said. “It’s great because it has everything that mother and child need when the child is born.”
“This set is for different situations, which can happen when giving birth to a child. For a normal process of giving birth, and also for different critical situations during birth,” she said. “We have 376 births during the year. We need more of this stuff. Please.”
With more insight into the situation at the hospital, it has become clear to Baby Lifeline just how much help the team there needs.
Judy Ledger, Founder and Chief Executive of Baby Lifeline, stated:
“The situation is desperate. We must get more equipment over to them.
“Since March 2022, Baby Lifeline and its supporters have donated £500,000 worth of equipment to teams in Ukraine, helping to safely deliver thousands of babies since the war began. Our aim has been to get equipment to health professionals working in areas most affected by Russian attacks. We now have serious concerns for the team at this hospital, and for the babies delivered there in the near future.”
Andrea Fraser, who is in close contact with Baby Lifeline’s partner organisations in Ukraine, explained:
“The bridge connecting the hospital to the maternity clinics nearby is under constant assault from Russian fire and drone attacks, and there is now serious concern around how long it can sustain these attacks.
“If the bridge becomes compromised, the hospital will become the main receiving hospital for babies across the area. Such a situation would see the team there receiving their yearly total of pregnancies in the space of a month, and they are woefully unprepared.
“The hospital currently only has one intermittently functioning incubator, a 50-year-old maternity bed, and dysfunctional equipment. We need send another truck of equipment to Ukraine as soon as possible.”
Please help us with this vital work by donating to Baby Lifeline’s Ukraine Appeal.