Ukraine’s health minister says Russian army blocks access to medicines

Ukraine’s health minister has accused Russian authorities of committing crimes against humanity by preventing access to affordable medicines in areas occupied by its forces.

Viktor Liashko told The Associated Press that since the war began, Russian authorities have repeatedly blocked efforts to deliver state-subsidized drugs to people in occupied cities, towns and villages.

“Throughout the six months of war, Russia has not (allowed) proper humanitarian corridors so we can provide our own medicines to patients who need them,” Mr Lyashko said in a speech at the Kyiv Health Ministry.

“We believe that these actions were deliberately undertaken by Russia, and we consider them to be crimes against humanity and war crimes that will be recorded and acknowledged,” the minister said.

The Ukrainian government has a program to provide medicines to people with cancer and chronic diseases.

Hospitals and infrastructure have been damaged, according to UN and Ukrainian officials, and an estimated 7 million people have been displaced within the country, interfering with other forms of treatment.

The war in Ukraine has severely disrupted the country’s state-run health service, which is undergoing major overhauls, largely in response to the coronavirus pandemic, when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the military on Feb. 24. invasion.

The World Health Organization said that as of Aug. 11, it had recorded 445 attacks on hospitals and other health-care facilities that directly resulted in 86 deaths and 105 injuries.

But Mr. Lyashko said the secondary effects were far more serious.

“When roads and bridges are damaged in areas now controlled by the Ukrainian army … it is difficult to get people who have had a heart attack or stroke to hospital,” he said.

“Sometimes, we are too late and the ambulances are too late. That’s why the number of casualties in wars (more than the number of people killed in combat) is. It’s an incalculable number.”