"AEROSVIT" UKRAINIAN AIRLINES WILL DELIVER ONE MILLION FLU MASKS AND 12,500 BOTTLES OF DISINFECTING HAND LIQUID FROM UNITED STATES TO KYIV, UKRAINE ON SATURDAY, NOV 7
Aerosvit, New York, New York, Friday, November 6, 2009
NEW YORK - Relief consignments with one million flu masks and 12,500 bottles of disinfecting hand liquid will arrive on Saturday 7 November in Kyiv, Ukraine from New York, New York on “AeroSvit Ukrainian Airlines” regular non-stop flight VV132 with a total weight of 7.5 tons.
“AeroSvit” has initiated a free cargo transportation program jointly with the Consulate-General of Ukraine in Chicago, Illinois. The funding was allocated by the Ukrainian Community in the USA. AeroSvit's partners at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in NY also contributed to the effort. In particular, Cargo transportations service and the leading forwarding companies granted their time, services, equipment, goods and packaging free of charge.
Volodymir Gaidash, PR director of "AeroSvit" emphasized: “AeroSvit," as the leading network and long haul carrier of Ukraine, could not stand aside during this flu epidemic. We will continue to render our services on relief consignments processing in our cargo terminal and its storage in our warehouses. “AeroSvit” would like to express a special thanks to our cargo customers in the USA that agreed to postpone their commercial cargo forwarding in favor of relief consignments."
On Monday, 2 November, the management of “AeroSvit” addressed the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation authorities of the Ukraine government with the official proposal to carry relief consignments to Ukraine free of charge on our regular flights to fight flu epidemics.
Press-service of “AeroSvit Ukrainian Airlines”
Email: press_service@aerosvit.com
Vlada Austrin, Representation in New York
Aerosvit Ukrainian Airlines
Tel: 1 212.661.1620 ext 100
Fax : 1 212 .661.1602
vaustrin@aerosvit.us; www.aerosvit.com
NOTE: AeroSvit Ukrainian Airlines is a member of the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council, Washington, D.C., www.usubc.org.
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CRITICAL MEDICAL SUPPLIES NEEDED IN UKRAINE
Serious outbreak of pandemic flu throughout Ukraine
List of humanitarian needs from Ministry of Public Health of Ukraine
U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC), Wash, D.C., Tue, Nov 3, 2009
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC)received the following letter from the Embassy of Ukraine to the United States about the serious outbreak of pandemic flu throughout Ukraine and the critical need for medical supplies. The Embassy asked USUBC to pass this information on to the members and friends of USUBC. Your assistance is needed now.
If your company/organization can provide any of the following items (see list below) for purchase or donation please contact Hennadii Nadolenko, Trade Representative of Ukraine in the USA, Embassy of Ukraine to the USA, Wash. D.C., Mobile:202 294 5636, E-mail: hnadolenko@gmail.com
immediately.
If your company/organization can provide donations to assistin the purchase of some of the following items such donations can be made to the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council Foundation (USUBCF) in Washington, D.C. Check should be made out to the USUBC Foundation and mailed to USUBC Foundation, 1701 K Street, NW, Suite 903, Washington, D.C. 2006.
If you would like to donate by wire transfer or by credit card please contact Lada Pastushak, Administrative and Financial Manager, U.S.-Ukraine Business Council Foundation (USUBCF), 202429 0551, lpastushak@usubc.org or Iryna Teluk, Development Manager, USUBCF, 240 505 9494, iteluk@usubc.org, or Ludmyla Dudnyk, USUBCF representative in Kyiv, Ukraine, 380 50 358 2681, ldudnyk@usubc.org; or Morgan Williams, Director, Government Affairs, Washington Office, SigmaBleyzer, who serves as President/CEO of the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council Foundation (USUBCF), 202 437 4707, mwilliams@usubc.org.
The U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC) urges all of you to give very serious consideration to this urgent request from the government ofUkraine. If you have any questions please contact Hennadii Nadolenko at the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington or Lada Pastushak, Iryna Teluk and Morgan Williams at the USUBC Foundation in Washington. Additional information will be posted on the USUBC website as it becomes available, www.usubc.org.
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EMBASSY OF UKRAINE TO THE UNITED STATES
Washington, D.C., Monday, November 2, 2009
Morgan Williams, SigmaBleyzer
President, U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC)
1701 K. Street, NW, Suite 903
Washington, D.C. 20006
Dear Morgan:
I wish to inform you and all the members and friends of the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC)about dramatic events in nine Western regions of Ukraine. Following the outbreak and rapid spread of pandemic flu throughout the regions, including pA-type infection (H1N1), 67 persons died within two weeks.
Due to the epidemiological situation complicated with acute respiratory viral infections, particularly the epidemic of influenza A/H1N1 in Ukraine, the Government of Ukraine appealing to relevant U.S. government agencies, American pharmaceutical companies and funds regarding the purchase or receipt of humanitarian aid (please see list below).
The Government of Ukraine will be thankful for any help that the members and friends of the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC) could provide in this dire hour for Ukrainian people.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Best regards,
/s/
Hennadii Nadolenko,
Trade Representative of Ukraine in the USA
Embassy of Ukraine to the USA
Mobile 202 294 5636
hnadolenko@gmail.com
NEEDS OF THE MINISTRY OF PUBLIC HEALTH OF UKRAINE:
- 15.3 million doses of vaccine against the pandemic flu (presumably H1N1)
- Mechanical ventilators and respirators, particularly pediatric, for long term respiratory support
- Portable ventilators brand name NEWPORT
- Fiber-optic bronchoscopes
- Anti-microbial filters
- Aspirators, suction machines
- Cardiac monitors
- Pulse oximeters
- Disposable supplies for above machines
- Infusomat brand IV infusion machines
- Tamiflu
- Antibiotics – type not mentioned
- Immunomodulators
- Intra-venous fluids for resuscitation
- Vitamins
- Antihistamines 2nd-4th generation
- Anti-cough medications
- Hormonal preparations (not specific)
- Neuroleptic (anti-psychotic) medications
- Muscle relaxants
- Disinfectant materials
- Protective devices: masks, gloves, safety-goggles, respirators
- PCR tests, presumably for H1N1 flu
- Disposable materials needed in a virus laboratory
UKRAINE FLU DEATH TOLL RISES, INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL AID ARRIVES
Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Kiev, Ukraine, Mon, Nov 2, 2009
Kiev - The death toll from flu outbreak in Ukraine continued to climb on Monday, as medical assistance from other countries began arriving in the former Soviet republic. Health Ministry figures placed the number of dead at 67. Swine flu was responsible for some but possibly not all of the deaths, according to Health Ministry officials.
More than 255,000 Ukrainians had registered with public health authorities as suffering from flu, of whom 83,000 were children, said Vice Health Minister Vasyl Lazorishinets told a press briefing.
Most of those infected were in Ukraine's western provinces, adjacent to European Union nations Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. Some 15,000 flu-infected had been hospitalised, and 170 were listed on Sunday evening as in critical condition, Lazorishinets said. Four of those who died since the flu broke out in late October had were health workers, according to Health Ministry counts.
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko at a nationally televised cabinet meeting on Monday called for calm, saying her government and the country would deal with the health crisis effectively.
'We have an epidemic of conventional flu, which is accompanied by a small number of swine flu cases ... and one of our tasks is to determine which is which,' she said. 'At the same time we have to battle with panic-mongering by irresponsible politicians ... and some government officials.'
Tymoshenko's rival in upcoming Presidential elections, opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich, called for a parliament special committee 'to investigate how it came to be that we have an epidemic.'
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko met with a delegation from the World Health Organization on Monday. Kiev needs further international assistance in combating the flu outbreak, which poses a threat to Ukraine's national security, Yushchenko said.
A Ukrainian military cargo plane loaded with 16 tons of the flu medication Tamiflu was met by Tymoshenko when it landed at Kiev's Borispyl airport late Sunday.
The drug, produced by Swiss-based Roche, would be turned over wholesale to Ukraine's public health system, to prevent price-gouging by private distributors, Tymoshenko said. Portions of the Swiss drug delivery had reached some provincial Ukrainian centres by Monday afternoon, Channel 5 television reported.
Poland was the first country to donate medical aid to Ukraine, with a lorry-load of medical supplies arriving on Saturday. The shipment going to a Lviv province hospital contained 80 packets of Tamiflu, 300 surgical masks, 70 sets of protective clothing, and a breathing-assistance device.
Additional medical supplies were en route to Ukraine from India, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, NATO, and the European Union; almost all of it humanitarian aid, according to a Ukraine Foreign Ministry statement.
Shortages in flu remedies, surgical masks and even Vitamin C tablets were reported across Ukraine, despite the foreign assistance, as panic buying emptied chemist shelves.
Black market prices of some flu remedies, particularly Tamiflu, had rocketed to as much as 10 times normal retail value, Tymoshenko said. She attacked medical supply importers and the national customs service for allowing drugs to enter the country at inflated prices, saying 'this situation absolutely is unacceptable to me ... Violators (of state-mandated maximum drug prices) will be severely punished.'
Educational institutions from nursery schools through universities kept their doors shut across Ukraine on Monday, as a Tymoshenko- announced ban on public gatherings went into effect.
A Tymoshenko-ordered 'quarantine' of Ukraine's nine western provinces was less effective, with intercity road, rail, and air transportation throughout the country continuing to operate at close to normal volumes. Ukraine's senior football league conducted a routine round of matches over the weekend, with games held in stadiums nationwide, despite the ban on public gatherings.