TORONTO — A non-profit organization says it’s scaling up efforts to transport Ukrainian children with cancer to Canada for treatment, but the shifting situation on the ground makes it hard to pin down when more patients might arrive.
Aman Lara, which helps evacuate individuals from conflict zones, helped arrange the recent journey of two young Ukrainian cancer patients and their families to Toronto.
The children, who arrived Wednesday, will be treated at the Hospital for Sick Children.
Aman Lara executive director Brian Macdonald says the recent effort was a “first step” in the group’s mission to help children whose treatment has been disrupted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Macdonald says the operation came together in 10 days despite the complexities of co-ordinating logistics in a conflict zone and ensuring the children stayed medically stable during the trip.
He says the non-profit has secured funding for another flight and is prepared for more evacuations as it works with a clinic in Poland to identify children who could benefit from Canadian medical care.
“I’m confident that in the near future, some patients will be identified whose needs will be best met in Canada. And when that moment comes, we are ready,” Macdonald told an online news conference on Thursday.
“We’re poised to move the next set of children when they come and the set after that. We are in this for the long haul.”
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A SickKids spokeswoman said in an email that it has the capacity to take more patients, but noted that the situation is “highly fluid.” The hospital declined to comment on the status of the two children in its care.
Earlier this week, British hospitals began treating 21 young Ukrainian cancer patients after Polish authorities asked for help in caring for the growing number of child refugees who need urgent medical care, U.K. authorities said.
The Ukrainian children arrived in Britain late Sunday and were to be treated at six hospitals around the country, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said.
— with files from the Associated Press
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