Mr Boris Johnson and the Ukrainian Ambassador visited Bunzl Healthcare’s warehouse in Enfield on Thursday 24 November 2022.
The visit paid homage to all the people who have been involved in shipping medical aid to hospitals in war-torn Ukraine and launched an urgent Christmas appeal to help these hospitals continue treating patients. In the past 9 months, 13 lorries have shipped almost 300 tonnes of medical supplies worth £3m to 5 key teaching hospitals across Ukraine in the cities of Lviv, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mykolaiv and Odessa.
Joined by Bunzl’s Circle Health Group partners, Mr Johnson was shown the complex task of transporting these medical supplies from Enfield across Europe to Ukraine. Medical supplies gathered from Circle Health Group’s 53 UK hospitals, together with donations from other organisations, are stored and dispatched from our warehouse at Enfield. To create a list of medical supplies urgently needed by each hospital, doctors at each of the 5 key Ukrainian teaching hospitals then work with a team of British/Ukrainian doctors at Circle, which helps to make each lorry load of aid truly count. Due for dispatch later that day, Mr Johnson helped to pack medical supplies and load the 13th aid lorry with hospital beds and anaesthetic machines, whilst meeting some of the key people who have played a crucial part in supporting Ukraine.
Following his visit to the warehouse, Mr Johnson took part in a round table discussion with the Ukrainian Ambassador, Mr Vadym Prystaiko, Bunzl MD, Jeremy Hill, Circle Health Group’s Co-founder and Group Clinical Chairman, Massoud Fouladi, their CEO Paolo Pieri, President of the Ukrainian Medical Association in the UK (UMAUK), Roman Cregg MBBS FRCA FFPMRCA PhD and fellow members Dr Pavlo Somov and Oksana Lovochkina.
Mr Johnson asked people to give generously and support an urgent Christmas appeal by Ukrainian hospitals, who will run out of vital items such as bandages and defibrillators within weeks without donations. Speaking after his visit, Boris Johnson said: ‘The Great British public are renowned for their generosity of spirit - even when times are tough at home - so I’m calling on them to dig deep this Christmas and help send hope to the heroic Ukrainian medics battling to save lives by supporting Circle Health Group’s vital humanitarian mission. Not one bandage or bed you fund will go to waste in the Herculean task of rebuilding beautiful, brave Ukraine. Slava Ukraini: the British people stand with you, this Christmas and always.’
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Date: 29 November