THE WORLD HEALTH Organization (WHO) has warned called for the safe transport of critical medical supplies to Ukraine, warning that oxygen supplies are “dangerously low”.

In a statement today, WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and WHO regional director for Europe Dr Hans Henri P Kluge said they were working with partners to establish safe transit for shipments through Poland.

They said trucks are unable to transport oxygen supplies from plants to hospitals across the country, including the capital Kyiv. 

The majority of hospitals could exhaust their oxygen reserves within the next 24 hours, they warned, stating that some have already run out.

“This puts thousands of lives at risk,” they said.

They said medical oxygen supplies are crucial for patients with a range of conditions, including those with Covid-19 (which number 1,700 in hospital now in Ukraine), and those with other critical illnesses stemming from complications of pregnancy, childbirth, chronic conditions, sepsis, and injuries and trauma.

Medical oxygen generator manufacturers in several areas are also facing shortages of zeolite, a crucial, mainly imported chemical product necessary to produce safe medical oxygen, the WHO said. Safe deliveries of zeolite from outside Ukraine to these plants is also needed.

“Compounding the risk to patients, critical hospital services are also being jeopardised by electricity and power shortages, and ambulances transporting patients are in danger of getting caught in the crossfire,” Ghebreyesus and Kluge said.

They said the WHO is helping health authorities identify the country’s immediate oxygen supply surge needs, assuming a 20% to 25% increase over previous needs before the crisis escalated last week.

“WHO is actively looking at solutions to increase supplies that likely would include the importation of oxygen (liquid and cylinders) from regional networks. These supplies would need safe transit, including via a logistics corridor through Poland,” they said.

“It is imperative to ensure that lifesaving medical supplies – including oxygen –  reach those who need them.”