June 19, 2014
Press Release
Commanded to survive: saving refugee patients from the Crimea and
Donbass
800 patients of opioid substitution therapy (OST) in May were deprived of the life-saving
treatment in the occupied Crimea, more than thousand of such patients in the districts covered
by the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) in Donbass is June are facing a real threat of the drugs and
treatment shortage.
These problems were discussed during the press conference held on June 19 in the UNIAN
information agency with the participation of refugee patients themselves, medical doctors,
representatives of civil society and international organizations.
«Due to the humanitarian project initiated in May 2014in the specialized treatment facilities of
Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy and Kirovohrad the continuation of OST is already ensured for 80
patients: 57 patients from the Crimea, 23 – from Donetsk oblast. In the nearest future we
expect to admit two more dozens of patients from the districts covered by ATO due to
exacerbation of the situation in Donbass. In addition to medicines, the patients during the
adaptation period will be provided with accommodation, meals and necessary social support», told Pavlo Skala, Director: Policy and Partnership, of the ICF “International HIV/AIDS Alliance in
Ukraine”, the project implementing entity.
OST patient Oksana (aged 35) was forced to leave Simferopol the next day after compulsory
closing of the opioid substitution therapy program by the Russian authorities in May. She is now
receiving the treatment in one of Kyiv clinics and gives way to emotions:
«I might have died, if I remained in the Crimea without medicines. I am disabled, I have had a
stroke and I know very well, how it feels to be left without therapy and help albeit for several
days. . The former patients in the Crimea, who do not have an opportunity to move, are in a
terrible condition; some of them are already deceased, others opted for suicide».
Two friends — Ihor (aged 36) and Ruslan (aged 34), also OST patients, in the beginning of
June have escaped Slovyansk, the most dangerous location in Donbass, riding a scooter under
the mortar fire.
«It would be naïve to expect an uninterrupted treatment in a blocked city, with daily gunfight,
without water and electricity, where the majority of banks and shops are closed. On the second
floor of our dispensary a firing position with machine guns is located, while on the first floor our
heroic nurse daily provides the drugs to the patients, almost all of whom have scattered», - Ihor
remembers recent events in his native Slovyansk.
Daily access to the substitution therapy for patients means a possibility to live, continue
treatment of other opportunistic diseases, take care of children and parents, have a job and at
least do not participate in the illicit drugs circulation. For hundreds of patients from the Crimea
and Donbass the interruption of treatment became a catastrophe. Due to OST programs
discontinuation in the Crimea several dozens of patients have already died. It is clear that the
Russian Federation authorities and the self-proclaimed Crimean government are trying to
conceal this terrible tragedy.
«Actually, in order to provide real help, our Fund and the Open Society Foundation back in April
have found certain resources and provided support to the Alliance’s humanitarian project on
saving and adaptation of 100 refugee patients from the Crimea and Donbass during the most
difficult transitory period till the end of August.
Unfortunately, the things we can do are limited, so we hope that the state would not keep being
aloof, as it used to do in the last few months, and will sooner or later undertake the
responsibility and funding of the activities on accommodating the refugees including chronically
ill», — summarized Olena Kucheruk, Public Health Program Manager of the International
Renaissance Foundation.
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Additional information:
Opioid substitution therapy is implemented in Ukraine since 2004. As of the moment the therapy covers
more than 8100 drug dependent patients in all the regions, except or the Autonomous Republic of
Crimea.
Three Crimean patients participating in the humanitarian project and today’s press conference (Oksana,
Ruslan and Georgiy) are the protagonists of the YouTube video «Save 800 patients being hostages in
the Crimea!», filmed at the end of March in Simferopol. On May 20, 2014 OST program in the Crimea
was terminated by the Russian authorities.
ICF “International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine” is ready to provide the interested media representatives
with the contacts of regional project coordinators and patients who moved from the Crimea and
Donbass.
Press conference will be held within the global «Support. Don’t punish» campaign in the eve of the International
Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, as well as the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
On June 26, 2014 public events will be held simultaneously in 75 cities of the world, among them Bangkok, Beirut,
Budapest, Vancouver, Delhi, Jakarta, Katmandu, Kuala Lumpur, London, Mexico, Oslo, Paris, Moscow, Tbilisi and
Kyiv. Official website of the Global campaign: http://supportdontpunish.org
Official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/supportdontpunish?fref=ts
OST hotline: 0-800-507-727
Previous materials about refugee patients:
800 people are given promises instead of narcological assistance
Save 800 OST patients being hostages in Crimea! Спасите 800 пациентов ЗПТ - заложников в Крыму! (Відео)
Regarding the situation with ensuring uninterrupted provision of OST in the Donbass districts covered by the ATO
Donetsk Republic militants detained Titan special squad with anesthesia drugs, but later they were saved - Oleh Musiy
803 hostaged from "The Crimea Island"
Pharmaceutical crisis in the Crimea
Russian Law Corners Drug Users
Contact person: Pavlo Skala
Cell phone. +38 050 3825178, office +38044 490 54 85
skala@aidsalliance.org.ua
www.aidsalliance.org.ua