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Ukraine Crisis – Order of Malta Steps up Humanitarian Aid and Appeals for Donations

Ukraine Crisis – Order of Malta Steps up Humanitarian Aid and Appeals for Donations
01/03/2022

The Sovereign Order of Malta has been stepping up its humanitarian aid to the victims of the ongoing Russian military attack on Ukraine since the eruption of hostilities on 24 February. Medical and humanitarian aid is being delivered through the Order’s worldwide relief agency Malteser International (https://www.malteser-international.org/en/our-work/europe/ukraine.html) and its local relief organizations in Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary.

The Polish Association of the Order of Malta (http://zakonmaltanski.pl/), through its relief organization Maltanska Sluzba Medyczna – Pomoc Maltanska (MSM), is supporting the work of their counterparts in West Ukraine and assisting in the reception of the one to two million Ukrainian refugees expected to cross the border with Poland in the coming weeks.

MSM medical personnel and volunteers are being deployed to the border areas in close coordination with the Polish Authorities to provide shelter, food, medical care and psychological assistance. Currently, about 50,000 people have been admitted every day since 24/02, and that number is expected to increase if hostilities intensify. In the Lviv region, the services expect over 200,000 additional refugees in the coming days, including 20,000 in the vicinity of Sambir at the crossing in Krościenko.

MSM is currently undertaking the following activities:

  • Establishment and operation of relocation points and social/medical facilities in Kombornia, Hrebenne (border crossing), Głubczyce, and Kraków (main train station).
  • Organizing transport of medical equipment for the Ukrainian relief organization of the Order of Malta from Ivano-Frankivsk. The volunteers built a soup kitchen, first aid service point, and a small field hospital. MSM is organizing a second large transport to Lviv with medical equipment donated from the Polish National Strategic Stockpile (ARM).
  • Professional medical support and medical equipment is being provided by MSM doctors at the hospital in Zabrze.
  • Supply of medical and humanitarian equipment (co-funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) to Ukrainian firefighters from Ivano-Frankivsk, which is already being used by them. (URGENTLY NEEDED: additional equipment, including first aid kits, personnel – volunteers and doctors).
  • In kind donations/supplies are being collected by MSM volunteers in the Order of Malta collection centers in Kraków, Katowice, Warsaw, Radom, Grobniki and Nysa, with the first transports already on their way to the handling point in Kombornia.
  • Organization of refugee accommodation in private houses, apartments and hotels across Poland, with MSM volunteers providing for their meals (e.g. 50+ refugees currently being housed in Poznań, and the first groups of refugees being admitted at Donimirski Boutique Hotels in Kraków).
  • Transport to and accommodation in Germany has been provided for c. 100 refugees, in cooperation with Malteser Hilfsdienst.
  • Four buses for bringing refugees from the border to the relocation points and on to their temporary accommodation have been donated by Malteser Hilfsdienst in collaboration with Malteser International. The buses will have supplies including blankets, mattresses, sleeping bags and food collected and purchased in Silesia on the way to the transit depot in Kombornia.
  • Delivering COVID-19 tests received as a donation and valued at more than 12,000 PLN.
  • Starting to raise money using the platform https://zrzutka.pl/chh5dw

Other actions planned for the coming days include:

  • Extension of medical and social points at train stations in Przemyśl, Rzeszów and Kraków.
  • Setting up of medical and social points for refugees in Kraków, Barczewo, Warsaw, Poznań and Katowice.
  • Ongoing transportation services for refugees.
  • Continued organization of accommodation facilities across Poland.
  • Organization of social and psychological assistance for the refugees.
  • Continued material collections and fundraising for refugees and for Order of Malta relief efforts inside Ukraine.

There is an urgent need for funding to enable MSM to continue and scale up the humanitarian aid to the victims in and from Ukraine.

 

Anyone willing to support the above-mentioned efforts, please make your donations to one of the following bank accounts:

 

Donations in PLN

Account Name:          Fundacja Pomoc Maltańska – Maltańska Służba Medyczna

Address:                      ul. Wita Stwosza 41, 40-042 Katowice, Polska

IBAN:                                    PL66 1140 2017 0000 4402 1300 0856

Receiving bank:          mBank S.A. formerly BRE Bank s.a. (retail banking) Lodz

(Skrytka pocztowa 2108, 90-959 Lodz 2)

Please be sure to include the following message: donation for statutory purposes – aid for refugees from Ukraine

 

 

Donations in EUR

Account Name:          Fundacja Pomoc Maltańska – Maltańska Służba Medyczna

Address:                      ul. Wita Stwosza 41, 40-042 Katowice, Polska

IBAN:                                    PL21 1140 2004 0000 3712 0947 7219

BIC / SWIFT:            BREXPLPWMBK

Receiving bank:          mBank S.A. formerly BRE Bank s.a. (retail banking) Lodz

(Skrytka pocztowa 2108, 90-959 Lodz 2)

Please be sure to include the following message: donation for statutory purposes – aid for refugees from Ukraine

 

Donations in USD

Account Name:          Fundacja Pomoc Maltańska – Maltańska Służba Medyczna

Address:                      ul. Wita Stwosza 41, 40-042 Katowice, Polska

IBAN:                                    PL76 1140 2004 0000 3312 0947 7201

BIC / SWIFT:            BREXPLPWMBK

Receiving bank:          mBank S.A. formerly BRE Bank s.a. (retail banking) Lodz

(Skrytka pocztowa 2108, 90-959 Lodz 2)

Please be sure to include the following message: donation for statutory purposes – aid for refugees from Ukraine

 

(Should a sort code be requested, please use the following: 11402004)