Doctor from Okhmatdyt hospital talks about evacuation of children from damaged ward
Pravda Ukraine
After a Russian missile attack on the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital, medical staff and concerned citizens of Kyiv helped to clear the rubble and evacuate the patients.
One of these people was a children’s toxicologist Vitalii Its. The photo in which he carries a child in his hands went viral on social media.
Quote from Irena Horodetska, an acquaintance of Its: “Today I saw a survey on social media: ‘Is there any person who you are proud to know personally?’ It was in the morning, before the massive Russian attack on Kyiv. I sat, thought about it…
Now I have an answer. This photo shows a person I’m honoured to know personally. Vitalii Its, a toxicologist from Okhmatdyt. I’m grateful to destiny for bringing me together with such great people and professionals!”
In a comment to Ukrainska Pravda.Zhyttia, Its revealed that he was not in Okhmatdyt but in the Dobrobut clinic during the Russian strike.
“After receiving a message about the strike and the need for help, the clinic mobilised all its resources in order to help with evacuation of the most severely ill patients to the in-patient hospital of Dobrobut,” Its recalled.
He also engaged in helping those affected by the attack right away.
Oleksandr Gusiev, a photographer, shared a photo in which Vitalii carries a patient from the toxicology department.
Its explained: he knew the patient in the photo personally.
“It’s just a child who was undergoing treatment in the building which was most damaged during the strike, in the toxicology department. Luckily, he was not in the epicentre of the strike.
There was nothing heroic about what I did. I was just carrying him to a more secure location,” Vitalii added.
He kept helping little patients on site of the attack until late evening.
Background:
- As a result of a Russian attack on the biggest children’s hospital in Ukraine, the toxicology ward building was damaged the most. Severely ill children were undergoing dialysis in this building.
- On 9 July Viktor Liashko, Minister of Health of Ukraine, reported that 94 Okhmatdyt patients were evacuated to other healthcare institutions.
- As of 9 July 68 more patients are staying in other buildings of the specialised Okhmatdyt hospital, which were not damaged in the Russian strike.
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