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Representatives of the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers welcome injured Ukrainian soldiers at the East Hospital: support and collaboration ongoing
Today, on 27 March 2025, the Riga East Clinical University Hospital (East Hospital) once again joins forces with the charity project M-Help.com, this day marking the 24th arrival of severely injured Ukrainian soldiers in the war started by Russia. This time, the soldiers were received not only by the Minister of Health, Houssam Abou Merhi, and the hospital’s Board but also by a large delegation of representatives from Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers and the Ukrainian Embassy. A total of 27 wounded soldiers were transported to Latvia’s largest hospital for medical care. During their visit to East Hospital, representatives of the Ukrainian government delegation expressed their gratitude for the support provided by Latvia and its medical professionals, discussed opportunities for expanding cooperation, and met with Ukrainian soldiers currently undergoing treatment.
At the beginning of the meeting, the East Hospital’s key role and ongoing cooperation were presented. This includes both the training and sharing of knowledge with Ukrainian medical professionals, as well as continuing to treat and provide rehabilitation for the severely injured soldiers and civilians affected by the war in Ukraine. Overall, the East Hospital has admitted more than 479 patients brought from Ukraine since the outbreak of the war.
Representatives of the Ukrainian delegation, specifically, Oleh Nemchinov, Minister of Economic Cooperation of the Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers, and Ruslan Prykhodko, Deputy Minister for Veterans Affairs of Ukraine, shared and demonstrated video recordings and photographs showing how, under wartime conditions, Russian forces deliberately target and destroy hospital infrastructure using tanks and drones. One particularly striking piece of evidence shown was a logbook found in an abandoned Russian tank, which listed shooting targets, one of which was a newly constructed, state-of-the-art hospital. Representatives of the Ukrainian government emphasized that a significant challenge at present is providing medical assistance to the Ukrainian population, as people continue to suffer from conditions such as stroke, heart attack, and other illnesses even during the war. Hospital management and physicians face challenging situations where injured soldiers, requiring immediate medical attention, are brought to the same hospital at the same time as civilians. Another pressing issue is the provision of psychological support, not only for soldiers but also for civilians, both adults and children who have experienced the horrors of war.
The meeting also included discussions about the economic models for the healthcare sector and hospital funding. Minister of Health of the Republic of Latvia, Houssam Abou Merhi, and East Hospital’s Board Members, Professor Haralds Plaudis and Vadims Beļuns, shared their experiences, explained the hospital’s vision, and discussed the most rational models for providing healthcare services in the context of critical events or disasters.
The Minister of Health, Houssam Abou Merhi, expressed his goodwill to continue the assistance and cooperation that promotes mutual exchange of experience and informed that an agreement is currently being prepared regarding psychological support for individuals who have experienced psychological and emotional trauma from the events of war.
The delegation visited soldiers currently undergoing treatment at the Trauma and Orthopaedics Clinic, including those requiring microsurgery, making sure the soldiers receive high-quality care and listening to words of gratitude from the soldiers towards Latvia for the support and assistance they have received. They also awaited a bus carrying injured Ukrainian soldiers.
As usual, Ukrainian patients were admitted to the East Hospital by a multi-disciplinary medical team comprised by various specialists and nursing staff from the Emergency Medicine and Patient Admission Clinic (EMPAC). The admission process was organised and managed by Aleksejs Višņakovs, Genādijs Ričards Rusanovs, and Inese Larionova.
Treating war-injured patients at the East Hospital is always a collective effort, involving physicians from many different specialties, such as traumatologists, surgeons, microsurgeons, infectious disease specialists, physical and rehabilitation medicine physicians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, radiologists, and laboratory specialists. Since Russia’s war against Ukraine, which in reality began in 2014, microsurgeons have also been actively involved in treating war-related injuries. As part of a multidisciplinary team, they have already performed more than 150 reconstructive surgeries on Ukrainian soldiers at the East Hospital.
All patients arriving from Ukraine underwent a thorough health evaluation at the EMPAC, including various laboratory tests and the examination for the possible presence of multidrug-resistant infections, as they can rapidly emerge and spread in wartime conditions. Several injured patients underwent additional radiological examinations by specialists in the Emergency Radiology Department to determine the specifics of their injuries.
It is the private initiative by the founders of the charity project M-Help.com, Arvis Rekets and Mārtiņš Medinieks that made it possible to transport the patients affected by the war in Ukraine to the East Hospital. Meanwhile, the Georgy Logvinsky Charity Foundation in Ukraine has equipped and renovated a bus used for the transportation of these patients.
About the East Hospital
Riga East Clinical University Hospital is the largest and strategically significant multi-profile hospital in the country. The hospital consists of five inpatient facilities – Gaiļezers, Latvian Oncology Centre, Biķernieki, Tuberculosis and Lung Disease Centre, and Latvian Infectious Diseases Centre, along with various specialised centres and clinics. The hospital provides highly specialised inpatient and secondary outpatient healthcare, offering multidisciplinary tertiary-level treatment and care in line with modern technology and medical knowledge. Approximately 80% of all cancer patients in Latvia are treated at the hospital. It serves as a practical training base for both Latvian educational institutions and foreign students, providing further education and knowledge transfer to healthcare specialists within and beyond the country. The hospital engages in scientific research and develops innovative methods for patient treatment. As the third-largest employer in the country, the hospital employs around 5000 staff members.
