Geneva:
The WHO said on Tuesday it was struggling to supply two generators to hospitals in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, fearing the worst for the hard-hit health system.
The World Health Organization said it was trying to move supplies closer to the front lines to speed up delivery if a window opens.
The WHO hopes to supply 15 generators to hospitals across Ukraine from a base in the western city of Lviv.
Two were set to head to the eastern city of Kharkiv on Tuesday, while another three are destined for the Lugansk and Donetsk regions to the east, where fierce fighting has taken place.
Two others were for Mariupol, also in the east, WHO Europe spokesman Bhanu Bhatnagar told reporters in Geneva via a video link from Lviv.
“We will only move the generators to their final destination if we can guarantee the safety of our personnel and the precious cargo they carry,” he said.
“The generators will help meet the minimal energy needs of medical and surgical units of reference hospitals, where power supply is limited or non-existent.”
Mariupol has become a symbol of Ukraine’s fierce resistance since Russia invaded on February 24.
Russia on Tuesday called on Ukrainian troops to “immediately” lay down their arms in the city.
“We don’t have access to Mariupol at the moment, but we will position everything so that we can get the supplies as soon as we have access,” Bhatnagar said.
“We fear the worst for the health system in Mariupol.”
The UN’s World Food Program called for unfettered humanitarian access to people trapped in Ukraine’s encircled areas.
In Mariupol alone, more than 100,000 people are unable to leave and “in urgent need of food, water and other essentials,” Jakob Kern, WFP’s emergency coordinator in Ukraine, told reporters in Geneva via a video link from Lviv.
“In such circumstances, any disease that can usually be treated with drugs becomes a life-threatening situation.”
The WFP estimates that about six million people in Ukraine will need food and money.
The WHO said it had delivered 218 tons of emergency and medical supplies and equipment to Ukraine so far, of which 142 tons had reached its intended destination, mainly in the north and east.
Since the Russian invasion, the WHO has verified 147 attacks on healthcare facilities in Ukraine, which have killed at least 73 people and injured 52.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)