People referred on the train are mostly either long-term hospitalised patients or recent war-wounded who need post-operative care following traumatic injuries. Of more than 600 patients transported and cared for on MSF’s medical train over two months, 355 were injured as a direct result of the war. The overwhelming majority of these patients suffered blast injuries. And 11 per cent of war-related trauma patients were younger than 18, and 30 per cent older than 60.
“I was on my way to the toilet when an explosion happened. I lost consciousness and fell,” a 92-year-old woman from Lyman, Donetsk region, recounted. “Once I came around, my face was covered in dry blood. I had an open arm fracture and must have also broken my nose when I fell.”
“I was alone and in pain screaming for help but with no one heard me,” the woman continued. “Later, a volunteer found me and spent two days trying to call an ambulance that would get me into a hospital.”
Blast injuries caused 73 per cent of the war-related trauma cases, with 20 per cent caused by shrapnel or gunshots and the rest by other violent incidents. More than 10 per cent of war-trauma patients had lost one or more limbs, the youngest just six years old.
