MZ: We are in a very difficult situation, this is a test for the entire European Union

The Minister of Health, Adam Niedzielski, and the European Commissioner for Health, Stela Kiriakidu, visited the reception point in Młyny near Korczowa on Monday. - We are in a very difficult situation, in which the number of refugees is growing every day. At the moment, we have already exceeded the number of 100,000 a day, and the total number of refugees has already exceeded a million - said Minister Niedzielski during the briefing. - We have the first information about patients who go to Polish hospitals and are referred to hospitals or directly at the border, if they are in a serious condition, if they require immediate supplies, or from such reception points due to the deterioration of their health - he stressed recalling that a large number of refugees from Ukraine have a long, difficult journey behind them. - These people are dehydrated. Unfortunately, that also applies to children, he added.

Children who require hospital treatment are a group that will be particularly focused on help and support from other countries. - We will want, in cooperation with the European Commission, to guarantee such solutions that will allow these children to be transferred to other hospitals in Europe - said Niedzielski, noting that it is primarily specialized treatment. - These are not only patients injured in accidents, injured as a result of a hard journey, because they are, for example, oncological patients who require long-term treatment - he emphasized.

Before their visit to the border, the Minister of Health and the EU Commissioner visited the provincial hospital in Rzeszów. - There we saw children who came to us with cancer and undergo treatment, but there are fewer vacancies - admitted the minister, emphasizing that Poland is ready to help, but "this is an exam that not only Poland has to pass". - This is an exam for the entire European Union in which we must all show solidarity.

EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said on Monday on Twitter that EU countries have already pledged to provide 10,000 hospital beds for refugees requiring specialist care. - I am deeply moved by the extraordinary work of the employees of the Provincial Hospital in Rzeszów. In these difficult times, they tirelessly provide the necessary treatment and care to the people of Ukraine, including children with cancer, Kyriakides wrote on Twitter. In Korczowa, the EU commissioner thanked the Polish society and organizations. - I would like to thank Poles, organizations that operate in the field, doctors, nurses, volunteers, staff, for opening their arms in this painful situation, when thousands of people, over a million, came to Poland since the beginning of the war - she said. Kyriakides announced that a European system has been set up to ensure the quick and efficient delivery of patients who require urgent treatment.

Also the heads of Polish specialized hospitals to which, among others, were evacuated children suffering from cancer stressed that they are establishing contacts with hospitals all over Europe that are ready to provide treatment to such patients.