The city of Dnepropetrovsk has to accommodate a big number of refugees, among them many people with chronic diseases, for example chronic kidney failure. Such patients depend on a regular treatment with a hemodialysis machine. This is an artificial kidney removing all the toxic substances normally washed out from the blood by the kidneys and transported to the urine. If the kidneys no longer work normally, this task has to be done by an artificial pumping and filtrating system. For this hemodialysis treatment, the patient has to come to the hemodialysis department of a hospital three times a week for four hours.

Dnepropetrovsk municipal hospital Nr.4 is a big hospital with a well-equipped large hemodialysis station. However, this station is calculated for the normal number of patients in the city and its environments, not for the huge additional workload resulting from the big number of refugees with chronic kidney diseases urgently needing treatment with hemodialysis. After a careful evaluation of the situation together with the specialists of Hospital Nr.4, the Humanitarian Aid Section of the Government of Switzerland decided to donate five Hemodialysis Machines and the necessary material to run the equipment to the Hospital. With these machines, at least 30 patients can be treated and thus be prevented from dying of renal failure. Most of those patients so far could only be dialyzed once or twice per week (instead of three times), which leads to a fast decay of general health.

On June 22, 2015 the five Hemodialysis Machines were handed over by representatives of the Swiss Government to the authorities of Dnepropetrovsk Hospital Nr.4.

The total amount of the current Swiss humanitarian assistance in Dnipropetrovsk hospital No 4 is CHF 200 thousand (or more than 4,5 million Ukrainian hryvnia).

Around hundred young people – students, activists – participated in the meeting with Swiss politician Mr. François Lachat, First President of the government of the youngest Canton of Jura in Switzerland.

The event was organized by the Bohdan Hawrylyshyn School in partnership with Swiss Cooperation Office Ukraine and the Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine.

Welcoming speech was presented by Dr. Dr Bohdan Hawrylyshyn, Head of the Bohdan Hawrylyshyn Charitable Foundation. All the participants were also greeted by Dr Christian Schoenenberger, Ambassador of Switzerland to Ukraine and Mr Holger Tausch, Director of the Swiss Cooperation Office Ukraine.

Mr. François Lachat is a politician with significant experience. At his time he was a Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) of the Swiss Parliament, Co-founder & former vice-president of the Assembly of European Regions (AER), Head of the Swiss delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). During his speech, Mr. Lachat shared his knowledge and experience in finding consensus in controversial political and local conflicts peacefully, showing it on the example of Canton of Jura.

For Ukraine Swiss experience in conflict solving could be of great importance, especially at the current situation. This was demonstrated by the youth that was asking serious questions and provoking hot discussion.