The Victor Pinchuk Foundation purchased a children's breathing apparatus for the Uzhhorod Maternity Hospital

As part of the Ukraine Relief Fund joint charity initiative, founded by Victor and Olena Pinchuk and the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, Eric and Wendy Schmidt and Schmidt Futures, Robert F. Smith and Vista Equity Partners, the Minderoo Foundation of Andrew and Nicola Forrest, Bill Ford and the General Atlantic Foundation, for the needs of the neonatal intensive care unit of the Uzhhorod City Maternity Hospital, a respiratory device for children for non-invasive ventilation of the lungs Infant Flow SiPAP was purchased at the cost of UAH 590,000.00.

In the absence of a regional perinatal center in Zakarpattia region, its functions are actually performed by the Uzhgorod City Maternity Hospital, which provides highly specialized obstetric-gynecological and neonatological medical care to women and children from all over Transcarpathia. 3500-4000 births take place in the institution every year, and the neonatal intensive care unit treats an average of 200-250 babies a year, most of whom require respiratory support.

Recently, there has been a significant increase in workload in the maternity hospital, because since the beginning of the full-scale military aggression of Russia against Ukraine, the Transcarpathian region has provided shelter to a significant number of women from among forced migrants. So, as of July, more than 1500 women from other regions received medical care at this medical facility, and 228 babies were born. The number of premature babies who require long-term care in the neonatal intensive care unit has also increased. Today, 8-12 children are treated simultaneously on 4 intensive care beds. Due to these circumstances, the Uzhhorod Maternity Hospital felt an urgent need for additional respiratory equipment and asked the Victor Pinchuk Foundation for help.

The Victor Pinchuk Foundation began cooperation with the Uzhgorod City Maternity Hospital on the project of creating a nationwide network of "Cradles of Hope" centers in December 2010, opening a partner center of the same name on the basis of the neonatal intensive care unit and equipping it with modern medical equipment for the rescue of premature babies in the amount of UAH 1,274 048.00. Since then, the Foundation systematically supports this maternity hospital, annually allocating funds for equipment repair and consumables to ensure its smooth operation, inviting maternity hospital specialists to participate in all educational events within the framework of the "Cradles of Hope" charity project. In 2011-2022, UAH 426,751.00 was allocated for the repair and replacement of components for medical equipment, including in June 2022, sensors, adapters, generators, rotameters in ventilators, monitors and incubators were replaced for the amount of UAH 55,176.00.

"For almost 12 years, our maternity hospital has been a partner of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation's Cradles of Hope project, and to this day the equipment handed over to us serves the needs of babies born prematurely or in critical conditions without fail," says the head of the neonatal intensive care unit, Stepan Bohdan. - Now, in such a difficult time for the country, the Foundation is there, as always, and we have received a new non-invasive respiratory therapy Infant Flow SiPAP breathing apparatus. This will allow us to use a more modern and safer type of artificial ventilation and minimize the likely negative consequences of any invasive interventions."