Tens of thousands of packages of antibiotics, analgesics for emergency pain relief, anti-infectives, adrenaline, and medicines to treat cystic fibrosis are among the nearly eight hundred thousand packages of medicinal products that pharmaceutical companies have donated to Ukraine since early March under a project coordinated by the Czech Ministry of Health.
When an urgent need arose for vast quantities of specific medicines for Ukrainian patients, members of the Czech Association of Pharmaceutical Companies (ČAFF) responded. The first shipment – fifty-seven pallets of humanitarian aid for Ukrainian patients – left the Czech Republic in mid-March.
“The donated medicinal products arrived safely in Lviv and Kyiv. Initially the primary need was for emergency medicine; demand has changed over time, and in later stages our member companies also donated assistance and medicines for chronic patients, such as for children with thyroid disorders,” describes Filip Vrubel, executive director of the Czech Association of Pharmaceutical Companies.
ČAFF member companies donated medicines to Ukraine via the Czech Ministry of Health. PRO.MED.CS Praha a.s. contributed antibiotics and respiratory pharmaceuticals worth CZK 470,880 towards the very first assistance package. Member companies provided additional medicines from their international branch offices directly to Ukraine or via humanitarian mechanisms in other EU Member States.
“I very much appreciate the initiative of ČAFF member companies, who offered large volumes of prescription medicines already at the very start of the conflict in Ukraine and went on to donate a total of more than half a million packages of needed medicine. Moreover, acting on their own accord or together with their employees, they sent additional financial donations for humanitarian purposes,” says Czech Health Minister Vlastimil Válek.
Several pharmaceutical companies that are members of ČAFF also have staff in Ukraine – and they are actively helping them. PRO.MED.CS is sending directed assistance to its employees inside Ukraine. “We regularly pay out salaries to all of our employees from the Ukraine branch. They all remain on staff, in spite of the fundamental obstacles at work,” the management of PRO.MED.CS explains.
Source: ČAFF PR