Ukraine flu death toll rises, foreign medical aid arrives (Roundup)

Nov 2, 2009, 16:44 GMT

   Kiev - The death toll from flu outbreak in Ukraine continued to climb on Monday, as medical assistance from other countries began arriving in the former Soviet republic.

   Health Ministry figures placed the number of dead at 67. Swine flu was responsible for some but possibly not all of the deaths, according to Health Ministry officials.

   More than 255,000 Ukrainians had registered with public health authorities as suffering from flu, of whom 83,000 were children, said Vice Health Minister Vasyl Lazorishinets told a press briefing.

   Most of those infected were in Ukraine's western provinces, adjacent to European Union nations Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania.

   Some 15,000 flu-infected had been hospitalised, and 170 were listed on Sunday evening as in critical condition, Lazorishinets said.

   Four of those who died since the flu broke out in late October had were health workers, according to Health Ministry counts.

   Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko at a nationally televised cabinet meeting on Monday called for calm, saying her government and the country would deal with the health crisis effectively.

   'We have an epidemic of conventional flu, which is accompanied by a small number of swine flu cases ... and one of our tasks is to determine which is which,' she said. 'At the same time we have to battle with panic-mongering by irresponsible politicians ... and some government officials.'

   Tymoshenko's rival in upcoming Presidential elections, opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich, called for a parliament special committee 'to investigate how it came to be that we have an epidemic.'

   Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko met with a delegation from the World Health Organization on Monday. Kiev needs further international assistance in combating the flu outbreak, which poses a threat to Ukraine's national security, Yushchenko said.

   A Ukrainian military cargo plane loaded with 16 tons of the flu medication Tamiflu was met by Tymoshenko when it landed at Kiev's Borispyl airport late Sunday.

   The drug, produced by Swiss-based Roche, would be turned over wholesale to Ukraine's public health system, to prevent price-gouging by private distributors, Tymoshenko said.

   Portions of the Swiss drug delivery had reached some provincial Ukrainian centres by Monday afternoon, Channel 5 television reported.

   Poland was the first country to donate medical aid to Ukraine, with a lorry-load of medical supplies arriving on Saturday. The shipment going to a Lviv province hospital contained 80 packets of Tamiflu, 300 surgical masks, 70 sets of protective clothing, and a breathing-assistance device.

   Additional medical supplies were en route to Ukraine from India, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, NATO, and the European Union; almost all of it humanitarian aid, according to a Ukraine Foreign Ministry statement.

   Shortages in flu remedies, surgical masks and even Vitamin C tablets were reported across Ukraine, despite the foreign assistance, as panic buying emptied chemist shelves.

   Black market prices of some flu remedies, particularly Tamiflu, had rocketed to as much as 10 times normal retail value, Tymoshenko said.

   She attacked medical supply importers and the national customs service for allowing drugs to enter the country at inflated prices, saying 'this situation absolutely is unacceptable to me ... Violators (of state-mandated maximum drug prices) will be severely punished.'

   Educational institutions from nursery schools through universities kept their doors shut across Ukraine on Monday, as a Tymoshenko- announced ban on public gatherings went into effect.

   A Tymoshenko-ordered 'quarantine' of Ukraine's nine western provinces was less effective, with intercity road, rail, and air transportation throughout the country continuing to operate at close to normal volumes.

   Ukraine's senior football league conducted a routine round of matches over the weekend, with games held in stadiums nationwide, despite the ban on public gatherings.