U.S. CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION VISITS OKHMATDYT

U.S. Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) and Paula Dobriansky, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs, along with a delegation of medical professionals today visited Okhmatdyt, Kyiv Clinical Children’s and Maternal Hospital. The delegation toured the facilities and met with hospital staff to discuss ways the United States can provide humanitarian assistance to the hospital. On this visit the delegation brought toys for the young patients but plans to return in the near future with needed medical equipment and supplies. The delegation arrived in Kyiv November 30 for a three-day visit to assess efforts to assist the long-term victims of the Chornobyl nuclear tragedy of 1986. Rep. Diaz-Balart and Under Secretary Dobriansky will also meet with Ukraine’s First Lady Katerina Yushchenko who invited them to Ukraine during a recent meeting with her in New York.

Since 1992, the Department of State has coordinated 50 humanitarian aid shipments in conjunction with the “Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund” (CCRF), most recently on December 24, 2004. These shipments have provided humanitarian commodities, including pharmaceuticals, medical supplies, and medical equipment valued in excess of $52 million for victims of Chornobyl.

Traveling as part of the delegation are Dianne M. Kube, Chief Administrative Officer of the Community Oncology Alliance; Dr. Steven Lipshultz, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics of the University of Miami; Dr. Zenon Matkiwsky, President & Chairman and Nadia Matkiwsky, Administrator of the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund, and Sylvia Iriondo, head of the respected Cuban-American human rights advocacy group “Mothers Against Repression.”

In addition to high-level meetings related to Chornobyl, Rep. Diaz-Balart and Under Secretary Dobriansky are scheduled to participate in the “Forum of the Community of Democratic Choice”, a pro-democracy conference in Kyiv, which will be attended by the leaders of the Baltic-Black Sea-Caspian region.

Photograph caption: U.S. Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart presents gifts to patients at Okhmatdyt, Kyiv Clinical Children’s and Maternal Hospital. Congressman Diaz-Balart and Under Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky are leading a delegation of medical professionals who have come to Ukraine to assess ways the United States can continue to help victims of the Chornobyl disaster.