A team of 20 doctors, including surgeons, neurosurgeons, anesthesiologists and nurses, will be deployed to the region of Marche in central Italy for two weeks, Italian ambassador to Ukraine, Davide La Cecilia told Reuters.
"The national health service in our country is very stressed. So we badly need medical personnel and are very happy that Ukraine is sending this humanitarian aid," said La Cecilia at Kyiv's airport, before the medical mission's departure on April 4, Reuters reported.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, who accompanied the ambassador, said Kyiv would send more medical aid and disinfectant to Italy in the coming days.
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The head of the Ukrainian medical mission, neurosurgeon Andriy Miroshnichenko, said that all the team members volunteered to work in Italy.
"After they come back home, they will be able to treat patients and work having practical experience and knowledge about the disease," said Miroshnichenko.
Asked whether the Ukrainian doctors were not afraid to catch the virus themselves Glib Bidyukov, a nurse, said it was "a consciously made choice."
"When you choose healthcare, you understand that you put yourself in some danger… Each of us made a choice a long time ago," Bidyukov said.
