Securing premises for pharmacies in Ukrainian frontline areas remains key challenge – MSF
Finding suitable premises to establish pharmaceutical warehouses in frontline areas remains one of the major challenges in ensuring access to medications for residents of these territories, said Iryna Gab, pharmacy coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Ukraine.
"One of the main difficulties we face is securing warehouse spaces that meet the necessary safety standards and allow for proper storage of medications. Many medicines require refrigeration, so power outages and attacks on the energy infrastructure pose additional complications," she told Interfax-Ukraine.
Gab noted that MSF operates along the entire front line – across Donetsk, Kharkiv, Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, and Mykolaiv regions – where mobile clinics and emergency response teams are deployed. Doctors, nurses, and pharmacists from MSF constantly monitor the medical supply situation in these areas.
"When we visit frontline communities, we often find that many medical facilities and pharmacies have been partially or completely destroyed by shelling. Access to essential healthcare services and medications for those who remain is extremely limited. That's why, after a doctor's consultation, we prescribe and provide necessary medications free of charge to those in need. These are usually treatments for chronic conditions, pain relief, and similar therapies," she said.
Gab stressed that "elderly residents in particular face extreme hardship, as many are unwilling to evacuate, not wanting to leave behind their homes and land, where they have lived for decades."
"They are forced to survive under constant shelling, without the ability to reach a pharmacy or clinic in time. Our mobile clinics travel to these settlements near the front line, and after a medical examination, provide the necessary medications. We've encountered difficult cases – people with epilepsy, asthma, hypertension, or diabetes who need continuous medication but can't get it due to the shelling," she added.
In 2024, MSF provided nearly EUR 0.5 million worth of medications to Ukrainians through mobile clinics, emergency services, and donations to hospitals, according to Gab.
In the early days of the war, she said, it was critically important to help the Ministry of Health restore medicine supply chains. Many routes were blocked due to intense fighting, so MSF organized deliveries from Brussels – home to one of its operational centers – and transported ambulances and mobile clinics from Brussels and another center in Geneva, Switzerland.
She emphasized that currently "there are virtually no completely safe zones in Ukraine – missile and drone attacks occur across the entire country."
"That's why we try to distribute medication stockpiles across multiple locations, rather than keeping everything in one place, to reduce the risk of complete loss. At the moment, we mostly work with foreign-made medicines sourced from reliable suppliers that meet strict European quality standards. It is critically important to us that all medications provided to patients are safe and effective," Gab said.