Six Ukrainian children with oncological disease and 10 adults arrived in Portugal this Saturday night, accompanied by a team from the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM), composed of a doctor, an assistant technician who speaks Ukrainian and a psychologist.
The children are stable (several cases are already in remission) and will be admitted to four hospital units of the National Health Service – two children will be followed up by the Portuguese Institute of Oncology of Porto Francisco Gentil, one child will be taken to the Centro Hospitalar Universitário de São João, two for the Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra and the Portuguese Institute of Oncology in Lisbon Francisco Gentil, will receive a child. The Central Administration of the Health System, together with the Reference Centers for Pediatric Oncological Disease, provided the necessary places for treatment.
The transfer of these children and their companions was carried out under the European Civil Protection Mechanism, in a process conducted by the Directorate-General for Health and in conjunction with the High Commissioner for Migration.
The National Health Service is, from the outset, available to receive all those who need medical care, and the Ministry of Health has made available 745 hospital beds for emerging patients, whose treatment cannot be guaranteed in Ukraine, including 12 pediatric oncology beds.
The arrival of these six pediatric cancer patients is an excellent example of how civil society can assert itself as a true partner of the State in this humanitarian response to the crisis in Ukraine. The Portuguese League against Cancer, the Society of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology and the Acreditar Association (which will host these 16 people) were collaborating with the Ministry of Health from the first minute.
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