The Ukrainian-Dutch Charitable Foundation SMART Medical Aid is composed of a diverse team of medical practitioners, volunteers and industry specialists with extensive experience in emergency and disaster medicine. SMART has been since 2014, when russia first began its offensive on Ukrainian territories.
At the beginning of russia’s full-scale invasion, SMART’s founder, Dr. Iryna Rybinkina, realised she could not stay far from her Motherland. She returned to Ukraine from Britain, where she had built a successful career as an anesthesiologist and surgeon over the previous 20 years, as well as a family and life for herself. Rybinkina quickly established the Ukrainian branch of “SMART Medical Aid” – a purpose-built organisation with the sole aim to provide expert-level humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
We had delivered 11 495 693 euros worth of quality-tested medical equipment and consumables. However, our successes are more than just numbers – we owe them largely to the tireless support of the dozens of Ukrainian and foreign partners, medical practitioners, organisations, and everyday civilians who took it upon themselves to organise concerts, sell paintings and books, and ultimately do everything possible to help us raise the necessary funds to procure and deliver life-saving equipment.
With the help of philanthropists, we have managed to import over 110,000 US-made CAT tourniquets – a model unparalleled in terms of quality. Right now, these tourniquets are saving lives on the front line.
Ukrainian doctors are currently working tirelessly to hold down a front of their own at the moment. Every day, the lives of wounded defenders, civilians, and children depend on the well-coordinated functioning of the Ukrainian medical system. As a result, we recognize the acute importance of providing hospitals with high-quality equipment and equipment-based staff training.
Thus far, over 203 medical facilities have received new equipment and consumables on our behalf, as well as more than 148 ambulances and emergency vehicles that enable medics to work with increased efficiency.
Our approach to supplying equipment to medical facilities is unique, in that we have a holistic understanding of international health care systems, as well as the intricacies of providing medical care in Ukraine.
Each healthcare facility has its own unique needs, and it is essential to provide exactly the form of help an individual centre needs at this precise moment. Our team is in constant communication with Ukrainian medical and military command in order to respond to their direct requests as efficiently and thoroughly as possible.
In addition to material donations, there are other forms of aid the war has made evident to us – our knowledge. Someone’s life may depend on each of us. This truth is especially pertinent in the wake of the constant stress, air raids, shellings, explosions, and violence inflicted on the Ukrainian people at the hands of the russian invaders. SMART medical trainers teach both military and civilians how to provide rescue assistance for this very reason. The military are able to learn tactical medicine, and civilians learn essential pre-hospital medical care – all fully free of charge. The trainings themselves are time consuming, but are ultimately the type of invaluable skill-sets that only serve to make Ukraine stronger.