Lynne Kelleher - Irish Independent
Originally published: Sun 24 Dec 2023 at 02:30
Originally published by the Irish Independent - view article here
Former Ireland A rugby star Shane Leahy helped arrange the delivery of the shipping container-turned-medical unit through his One4Humanity charity
A “hospitainer” transported to Ukraine with Irish help will deliver babies this Christmas.
The medical unit in a 20ft shipping container is designed to give essential obstetric care and health services to pregnant women and victims of sexual violence.
It arrived on the back of a truck in recent days in a rural area of the Mykolaiv region, which has been pounded by shelling, leaving maternity services badly damaged.
The delivery was orchestrated by former Irish rugby star Shane Leahy through his new charity One4Humanity, which is sending consignments of vital medical aid to Ukraine.
The maternity clinic unloaded with a crane on the outskirts of the Ukrainian village will be ready for the arrival of newborns by the end of the week.
“It’s a full birthing suite, there is a heat lamp on the wall for the babies and weighing scales,” he said on a call this week as he travelled by bus across the country.
“There is an ultrasound which alone costs nearly €50,000. The whole container is worth north of €250,000.”
Leahy, who played second row for Connacht, Munster and Ireland A, works as an unpaid volunteer for his organisation and covers his own travel costs.
“This hospitainer was donated by an American charity, Heart to Heart International, one of 16 they have donated, and we have delivered to Ukraine,” he said.
The Limerick entrepreneur, who was moved to set up the humanitarian organisation after visiting Kyiv for business just before the outbreak of the war, said the unit will cover 18 villages left without a service for weeks because of the bombing.
The maternity hospitainer was originally destined for Odesa but it was already en-route across mainland Europe when it was diverted to Mykolaiv, which is around 130km northeast of the strategic Black Sea port.
“A school was hit directly by missiles and a maternity clinic was damaged,” said Leahy.
The units are acutely needed as there is currently a baby boom in Ukraine.
“The clinicians were thrilled with it,” he said.
“It is serving 15,000 people. Travelling in Mykolaiv is very difficult at times, there are a lot of police checkpoints, and the weather has been horrific.
“They had a storm with heavy snow and up to 200km-an-hour winds in recent weeks.
“A clinic already damaged by the shelling had its roof ripped off.”
In this remote area, the nearest maternity service in Odesa was a three-hour drive away which meant some women were forced to have home births in bomb shelters.
“The obstetrician said this will affect generations because the babies are being born in bomb shelters.”
In travelling around the country he hasn’t been close to the shelling on this trip, but he experienced the aftershocks of missiles back in September.
“We were in Kherson and Kharkiv near the front line. A percussion wave comes after the explosion so you can hear it and feel it.”
He also enlisted the help of a leading Irish consultant obstetrician in pinpointing the right location for the unit.
Through his ongoing work with the National Medical University of Odesa, Professor Chris Fitzpatrick, a former master of the Coombe Hospital, was advised that Mykolaiv was in desperate need of the unit.
“This is a region that has suffered a lot of bombardment since the war began with considerable damage to urban and rural infrastructure,” said Prof Fitzpatrick, who has been helping to train emergency medical personnel in Ukraine with the UCD Ukraine Trauma Project.
“Mykolaiv have had a significant influx of internally displaced people from the Kherson area.
“It’s a state-of-the-art facility with equipment to provide services for pregnant women along with gynaecology services.
“It will allow for ultrasound examinations to be performed, therapeutic procedures to be undertaken, and breast cancer screening and also cervical cancer screening.
“Coming as a Christmas present, it is quite phenomenal.”
Prof Fitzpatrick worked with Ukrainian obstetricians in preparing a formal application for the hospitainer, along with liaising with the Limerick charity director, who was charged with getting the mobile maternity clinic across several European borders.
“It has been a real privilege to work with such can-do people,” said Prof Fitzpatrick.
Leahy, who returned to Ireland to his day job as CEO of the Oxygen8 Group this weekend, will be continuing to use his business acumen to get medical aid into Ukraine.
“The focus has been taken off Ukraine, naturally, because of what is happening in Gaza.
“They were even more appreciative to get this because they don’t want to be forgotten.”