Metinvest will supply a total of 300 tons of oxygen to hospitals in the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions, responding to urgent needs arising from the ongoing pandemic. The decision, made by the Group management, is intended to support medical institutions facing critical oxygen shortages.
Metinvest Groop will supply 240 t. of oxygen to medical institutions of Kharkiv region and 60 t. to those of Kyiv. Such a decision was made by the Group management in connection with an application from Kharkiv region administration and Kyiv municipal clinical hospital No. 6.
Hospitals in Kharkiv region faced an oxygen shortage in early October: the main supplier started the equipment repair, resulting in a decline in supply from 40 to 20 t. per day. In connection with this, Olexandr Skakun, deputy head of Kharkiv regional administration, turned to Metinvest management requesting help with oxygen supplies to medical institutions of the city.
An oxygen supply schedule was promptly developed in Metinvest, through which the hospitals of Kharkiv region will receive 240 t. of oxygen from October 18 to October 28. The first 80 t. of oxygen have already been supplied to the regional hospitals. Oxygen for medical workers of Kharkiv region will be supplied by Group enterprises, including PJSC "Zaporizhstal", PJSC "Dneprovskyi coke plant", and PJSC "Azovstal Iron & Steel Works".
In particular, Metinvest will supply 60 t. to Kharkiv municipal clinical cross-functional hospital No. 17 and 60 t. to the regional specialized dispensary of radiation protection. Additionally, 40 t. will be provided to each of the following institutions: Kharkiv regional hospital of war veterans, Kharkiv regional clinical infection hospital, and Kupyansk local medical association.
The chief doctor of Kyiv municipal clinical hospital No. 6, also experiencing a lack of oxygen for treating patients with Coronavirus, turned to Metinvest as well. 60 t. of oxygen will be supplied from "Azovstal" to the hospital by the end of October.
Metinvest enterprises have already supplied 120 t. of liquid oxygen to the hospitals in the capital in October. Among those receiving help are Kyiv municipal clinical hospital No. 6, Kyiv municipal clinical hospital No. 1, and Kyiv regional clinical hospital.
Yuriy Ryzhenkov, Chief Executive Officer of Metinvest Group: - Since the beginning of October, we can see an outburst of coronavirus all over the country again. Therefore, the speed of response to the needs of medical workers is our best ally in our fight against the pandemic. It is equally important that local authorities also monitor the situation on an ongoing basis and make quick decisions, like what occurred in our case. We hope that the quick response of the authorities, along with the willingness of business to help medical workers using all available resources, will support the medical workers in stopping the spread of the disease and saving lives and health of the Ukrainians.
Oleksandr Skakun, deputy head of Kharkiv regional administration: - Unfortunately, Kharkiv region is among the regions with the largest percentage of need for oxygen in Ukraine. Thanks to the cooperation with Metinvest Group enterprises, the regional hospitals engaged in the fight against COVID-19 are now fully provided with oxygen.
Vadim Kryzhevsky, the chief doctor of Kyiv municipal clinical hospital No. 6: - We faced interrupted supplies of the required amount of oxygen: the hospital consumes 5 t. of oxygen per day. For this reason, I turned to Metinvest to help us with this issue. Metinvest has responded and makes it possible for us to take oxygen over the next four weeks. We are very grateful to the Company. This will allow us to save at least 350 people with Covid receiving treatment in our hospital.
As a reminder, Metinvest supplies oxygen to hospitals in different regions of Ukraine for the second year in a row. From 2020 to September 2021, the Group's enterprises donated more than 2 thousand tons of liquid and nearly 409 thousand cubic meters of gaseous oxygen to hospitals in Zaporizhzhia, Mariupol, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zhytomyr, and Khmelnytsky regions.
Additionally, Metinvest is constructing oxygen infrastructure in hospitals in cities where the Group's enterprises operate. In particular, oxygen systems were installed in Mariupol, enabling the provision of about 700 hospital beds with oxygen.
In Zaporizhzhya, Metinvest Group built a new oxygen station at the regional infectious disease clinical hospital that supplies 104 beds with oxygen. The Company is also assisting with the repair of the intensive care unit of the hospital damaged by fire, with the oxygen route to the intensive care being conducted from the new oxygen station.
In Avdeevka, Metinvest is collaborating with the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation to create an oxygen station as part of the project "Fighting COVID-19 in Ukraine". An automated oxygen system will be installed in the Avdeevka central municipal hospital, delivering oxygen to 81 points.
This summer, an oxygen station was opened in Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, at the Pokrovsk clinical hospital for intensive care. The station, constructed with the support of Metinvest and Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, provides oxygen to the department for patients with coronavirus.
In Kryvyi Rih, the Group has supported the municipal hospital No. 17 by providing it with oxygen supply equipment. Metinvest undertook the installation of the equipment and lines for oxygen supply to treatment blocks.
In total, Metinvest spent about $ 6 million in the fight against coronavirus last year.
Reference Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of steel and mining companies managing every link of the value chain, from mining and processing iron ore and coal to manufacturing and selling semi-finished and finished steel products. It comprises steel and mining production facilities located in Ukraine, the EU, the UK, and the US, and a sales network covering all key global markets. The management company of Metinvest Group is METINVEST HOLDING LLC, a subsidiary of Metinvest B.V. Major shareholders of METINVEST B.V. include SCM Group (71.25% ownership) of Rinat Akhmetov and SMART HOLDING (23.75% ownership), partnering in the Company’s management.
In 2020, Rinat Akhmetov, alongside SCM businesses, the "Shakhtar" football club, and Rinat Akhmetov's Foundation, were the first to aid the country in its fight against the coronavirus. Through Rinat Akhmetov’s personal initiative, over UAH 450 million were assigned to this cause as part of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation "Fighting COVID-19 in Ukraine" project, which helped 1.4 million people survive. This represents the largest contribution from a single donor to Ukraine's public healthcare. More than 500 medical institutions across the country received over 1000 units of equipment, including 207 lung ventilators, as well as hundreds of thousands of express test kits, personal protective equipment, and consumables.
Vadym Novynskiy’s Foundation has allocated over UAH 100 million to combat the coronavirus epidemic in Ukraine. These funds were used to purchase lung ventilators, PCR-tests, and personal protective equipment for medical workers, among other necessities, which were distributed centrally to hospitals in Donetsk, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kharkiv regions. Additionally, UAH 3.8 million were allocated to financially support 31 families of medical workers who unfortunately lost their lives to COVID-19.