Half of Lithuania’s medical team is staying in Ukraine for one more week and the rest are returning home after completing their mission, the Health Ministry reports.
The situation in Ukraine remains tense, Marius Ciurlionis, an advisor at the ministry, says.
“The medical workers themselves willingly agreed to stay, and we are very happy about that,” he said.
The 24-strong team left for Ukraine two weeks ago. They spent the first week in the capital Kyiv, but were later redeployed to more strained hospitals in the southern part of the country. One group traveled to the Moldovan border and the other moved closer to the frontline.
Ciurlionis did not name the hospitals for safety reasons.
The Lithuanian doctors and nurses had to help not only patients in need of routine care, but also those affected by Russia’s war, according to Ciurlionis.
“It may not always be patients who suffered from direct military action, such as shelling or rocket attacks, but, for example, a person who stepped on a mine,” he said.
The first group of 12 doctors and nurses are already on their way back to Lithuania, with a welcoming ceremony in Kaunas planned for the weekend. (LRT/Business World Magazine)