A first convoy of seven young patients from Ukraine and their loved ones landed at the military airport of Melsbroek today. The aim is to provide adequate medical treatment to patients suffering from serious conditions such as leukemia, now that their country is at war. This is communicated by the Federal Public Service Public Health.
The young patients are between two and seventeen years old. They suffer from blood cancers, such as leukemia, or solid tumors, such as brain tumors.
According to the FPS Public Health, the young patients first traveled to Poland from the Ukrainian city of Lviv. A hospital has been set up there to coordinate the evacuation of childhood cancer patients from Ukraine to various European countries.
From Poland, B-FAST, the Belgian emergency assistance, then organized a charter flight to Belgium. A team of pediatricians, nurses and translators accompanied that flight. As soon as the children arrived in Belgium, the children were transferred to the Queen Astrid Military Hospital in Neder-Over-Heembeek. A medical specialist examined them there.
The children will now be treated further in various specialized centers in Belgium. The relatives of the young patients are housed near the hospitals.
The medical evacuation is the result of a successful collaboration between several partners, emphasizes the FPS Public Health. For example, the Belgian Society for Pediatric Hemato-Oncology (BSPHO) was the point of contact with the teams in Poland for the organization of the evacuation. BSPHO was also responsible for the allocation to those centers in Belgium.
In addition, there was support from patient organizations KickCancer, Aide aux Enfants Cancéreux, Kinderkankerfonds, Sun Child and Tuki. The European Commission pays 75 percent of the transport costs and also coordinates medical evacuations.
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