Hospital team flies to Poland to bring 21 Ukrainian children with cancer to England for treatment

By Ed Cullinane via SWNS

A team of British hospital staff have flown to Poland to bring 21 Ukrainian children with cancer to be treated in England.

The nine staff from Southampton Children's Hospital made the trip on Sunday where they took the children into their care.

The youngsters were all being treated in Ukrainian hospitals when Russia invaded the country on February 24th, and had to flee the country.

Packing up a private charter aircraft with medical supplies, the hospital team flew to Poland on Sunday (March 13).

Dr. Michael Griksaitis, consultant pediatric intensivist at University Hospital Southampton, led the team and said he was overwhelmed by the human tragedy on the ground in Ukraine as well as by the response from NHS colleagues who wanted to help.

He said: “This has been the most amazing and emotional experience the team and I have ever had.

"The families were so incredibly grateful and the stories they told us were so horrific.

"We were just so pleased to do something to help and delighted it has all gone so well so far.

“But I am acutely aware that there are so many other people who have been left behind to suffer the ongoing trauma this war is causing.”

Speaking about the decision to travel to Poland, Dr. Griksaitis added: “Everyone at UHS was so desperate to help in whatever way they could, I literally had to turn people away.

“We had a very quick turnaround preparing bespoke bags of kit and gathering all the spare intensive care unit equipment that we have in Southampton, because we had no real idea of what we might find when we landed.

“I’ve not led anything like this before in my life, but the team and I felt compelled to do whatever we could to help.

"Getting the children and their families back to the UK so they can continue with vital treatment and receive whatever further medical help they might need was the absolute priority.”