An injured child lives – but the doctors can no longer save it due to scarce resources. According to Unicef, this horror scenario is now a bitter reality in Lviv in western Ukraine.
They had to set up a sticker system in their hospital. Four colors that decide the life and death of children. Three of the colors promise help. Anyone who gets such a sticker is lucky in disguise:
- green: child is injured but has no urgent medical need
- yellow: child needs treatment
- red: child must be treated immediately
For those children who get a black sticker, there is no more hope.
They may still live, but they will die. The resources are needed for other small patients.
Hospital in Lviv completely overloaded
The doctors at the hospital in Lviv in western Ukraine have to make what is probably the most difficult medical and ethical decision: Given the overload in their clinic, which child must they let die so that other children can survive?
This principle is called triage. A dilemma that was discussed in this country, especially in connection with the possible overloading of hospitals due to the coronavirus pandemic. In Lviv, this scenario is a reality. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund Unicef point this out on the 20th day of the war.
According to them, more and more girls and boys, some of them seriously injured, are arriving in Lviv from other regions of the country attacked by Russia, where it is still relatively safe. The city of 720,000 has so far not been directly affected by hostilities. A large part of the flight movements from the Ukraine is handled via the big city. According to Unicef, more than half of the people who have fled are children and young people – on average 55 arrive every minute of war, as Unicef spokesman James Elder emphasized.
According to the children’s charity and the WHO, they are trying to get material for the Lviv hospital. But: “The only way out of this catastrophe is to end the war, and to do it now,” said Elder in Geneva.
31 attacks on health facilities in the Ukraine war
Exact figures on the children treated and died in Lviv are not available. Not even about how often triage decisions have already been made – but the mere fact that the sticker system has to be set up there illustrates the sheer misery in the Ukrainian health system as a result of the war.
According to the WHO, 31 health facilities across the country have already been attacked or damaged. Attacks on hospitals are considered war crimes.
Source: Stern
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