Metinvest Group, as part of Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front initiative, has built the country’s first underground hospital for the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, in coordination with the Vostok Medical Forces, to provide primary medical care and stabilize the condition of warriors after being wounded on the front line, having invested more than UAH 20 million, the group said in a press release on Tuesday
In turn, the Defense Ministry in a statement on its website indicated that the hospital was the first in a large-scale project implemented by the ministry in coordination with the Medical Forces Vostok, and in total it provides for the construction of more than two dozen underground stabpoints.
It is specified that the first facility is located near the front line and is designed to provide medical assistance to Ukrainian defenders in the safest possible conditions. The hospital is built on the basis of six enlarged steel bunkers-“kryivoks” developed by Metinvest, each of which is 7.6 meters long and 2.5 meters in diameter. Ventilation, water supply, drainage and alternative power supply systems have been installed to ensure the functioning of the facility.
Additional security measures have been taken during the installation of the underground hospital, in particular, it is additionally equipped with high-power REB systems and alternative power sources.
“Such underground stabpoints are critically important for preserving the lives of our military… This is the first step in a large-scale project that will strengthen our medical infrastructure and allow to support defenders on the front line even more effectively,” emphasized Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
“Metinvest” specified that the staffing of the hospital corresponds to the level of field hospitals of the second echelon (Role/Echelon 2) in accordance with NATO standards, and the investment included the cost of not only the construction of the hospital, but also the completion of its equipment.
“A medical hospital at a depth of many meters underground is the most ambitious and complex project we have had to implement since the beginning of the full-scale invasion within the framework of Akhmetov’s Steel Front initiative,” said Metinvest’s Chief Operating Officer Oleksandr Mironenko.
It is noted that the steel underground hospital is not inferior to civilian hospitals in terms of medical equipment. In particular, Metinvest has equipped the hospital with oxygen concentrators, ventilator, cardiac monitors, defibrillators, operating equipment and lighting, sterilizers, patient heating systems, medical furniture for the total amount of more than UAH 7 million.
“This underground hospital is the best of stabilization points. It will allow to provide medical care to more than 100 patients per day, saving hundreds of lives of our heroes. I hope that the number of such facilities will grow,” said Roman Kuzev, acting commander of Medical Forces Vostok.
