Malteser AeroMedical and Quick Air transport wounded Ukrainian refugees to Berlin hospital

Malteser AeroMedical and Quick Air transported two Ukrainian refugees free of charge from Poland to Germany to receive further treatment for severe gunshot wounds.

The mission was conducted following a request to Malteser AeroMedical’s Operations Centre on 22 March, and involved the transportation of the two patients, a mother and daughter, from Krakow, to Berlin’s Charité University Hospital.

The operation was carried out the next day (23 March) by a volunteer crew operating a Quick Air Learjet 45 (callsign D-CQAA) configured with two intensive care transport stretcher systems as well as five passenger seats, for use by crew and the family of the two patients.

Other service providers such as handling agents also provided their services at no cost for this mission, and the expenses of ground transports were also covered.

The daughter narrowly avoided being shot through the heart

The mother and daughter had been wounded while fleeing the fighting northwest of Kyiv, alongside other members of their family. Shortly after leaving their home near Hostomel, their car came under fire, and both the mother and daughter were injured.

The family, which also included a father and son who were unharmed during the attack, were returned to Kyiv for initial medical treatment, before being evacuated to Krakow, Poland, by Ukrainian authorities for further care.

The daughter was shot while protecting her eight-year-old brother from the gunfire, and received:

• A gunshot wound to the left thigh
• Another gunshot wound to the right thigh
• A third gunshot wound to the thorax left (the left side of her chest, near her heart)
• Pulmonary contusion with cyst formation post-traumatic left (bruising to the lung)
• A splinter injury to the thorax
• An open fracture of the greater trochanter on the left (top of the left femur near the hip joint)
• A tear of the distal phalanx (top of her toe) of the second digit of the right foot
• Rib fractures (third and fourth on the left hand side)
• A fracture to the left capula (shoulder blade).

The mother received:

• A two-fold gunshot wound to the right thigh
• Another gunshot wound of the left tibia (shinbone)
• Open comminuted fracture (meaning the bone broke through the skin) of the right thigh near the knee, with joint involvement.
• Multiple foreign bodies embedded in the right thigh.

Efforts are underway to ease strain on Polish hospitals caring for critically injured refugees

Due to the heavy influx of around 2.3 million Ukrainian refugees into Poland fleeing the Russian invasion, many of whom are seriously injured, Polish hospitals are under heavy strain.

Consequently, efforts are underway across the European Union to ease the burden – another medevac jet operated as part of the RescEU initiative, recently began transporting injured refugees to Norway for treatment.