About 20,000 Ukrainian refugees have benefited from medical assistance since the start of the war and until the beginning of 2023, according to a report on Ukrainian nationals’ access to medical services in Romania and the funds allocated by the Government and European institutions to support displaced persons from Ukraine, launched on Monday by the Federation of Non-Governmental Organizations for Children (FONPC), according to Agerpres.

The official data communicated by the Government shows that, during this period, 19,594 Ukrainian refugees benefited from medical assistance, and 3,170 were hospitalized. Of these, 4,590 were transported by ambulance to the hospital. A number of 462 children were vaccinated against poliomyelitis and another 444 against measles – the first dose. Also, more than 1,000 elderly people requested social services.

Access to medical services has been extended for Ukrainian refugees who benefit from temporary protection status. The World Health Organization, in partnership with the Government and other partners, has identified 24 family medicine clinics as clinics that include refugees. Those clinics are supported with language interpretation, registration, referral and financial support for refugee registration and service delivery.

According to the Government, in 2022, over 106 million euros were paid from public funds for the accommodation and food of refugees through the 50/20 programme, representing a daily expenditure of over 352,000 euros. From this money, Romania received only a first tranche of 39.1 million euros from the aid granted by the European Union to settle the expenses for meals and accommodation of Ukrainian refugees.

Of the more than 3.2 million Ukrainian citizens who crossed the borders in the last 12 months, more than 2.5 million benefited from direct support from the Government or its partners. Currently, there are over 107,000 Ukrainian nationals who have chosen to stay in Romania, of whom over 47,000 are children.

More than 500 million euros were allocated from the state budget and international partners. Six ministries are involved in the National Medium and Long Term Action Plan, more than 20 laws have been amended and adopted to manage displaced persons from Ukraine, more than 1,500 local authorities and 300 non-governmental organizations are involved in providing direct support to refugees from Ukraine.

From the beginning of the crisis in Ukraine until the end of April 2022, the member organizations of FONPC have supported almost 380,000 refugees, investing over 6 million euros. Donations or funding were overwhelmingly received (16 organizations out of 22) in the form of private funds or allocations provided by international NGOs (including grants) and no budget was directly allocated by any local, central or regional authority or from European funds.

The report was drawn up within the „Help to help Ukraine” programme, implemented by the Federation of Non-Governmental Organizations for Children (FONPC) – carried out with the support of CARE – a global confederation that has been fighting poverty and social injustice for over 75 years, through the programme coordinated and implemented at the national level by the SERA Romania Foundation, with the support of FONPC.

Agerpres