Europe helps PMR; aid shipment on its way

Medical equipment donated by East European Aid is saving the lives of newborn in PMR's hospitals

DUBLIN (Tiraspol Times) - Today from Ireland sets off a 10 meter truck of humanitarian supplies from hospitals from the North and South of Ireland. The aid is directed to three sources in Pridnestrovie: The Ministry of Health, the Mother and Child hospital, and Glenoi state school.

The truck is being driven by representatives from Dublin and Belfast (Northern Ireland) and is expected to arrive in Tiraspol on Friday , 6 October.

Included in the supplies is a vast range of medical equipment and supplies ranging from general supplies to incubators, state of the art ultra-sonic camera scanners, and surgical equipment.

The supplies are donated from Irish hospitals from North and South of the Island and are been sent through medical charity East European Aid with assistance from other Irish charities and humanitarian aid organizations.

In addition to the serious medical equipment, included in the cargo are also 300 new warm quilted duvets for the children in Glenoi Orphanage and Glenoi school. An Irish delegation visited the orphanage and school earlier this year, making a list of what was needed and pledging its help to the children.

Humanitarian aid to break isolation

Earlier this year, the Irish aid organization East European Aid previously sent two containers to Pridnestrovie and has today announced that a further two containers of medical supplies will be sent by April.

The organization stressed its opposition to the economic blockade of Pridnestrovie, stating that "it is a nonsensical blockade from a political view because it not only created deeper divisions between peoples, but also from a social view because it hurt the most vunerable citizens of society, the children and the ill."

" - Blockades in general are counter-productive and serve no positive purpose for the dominance of a political dispute."

Pridnestrovie, also known as Transnistria or Transdniester, has been under pressure since 3 March of this year when Ukraine imposed new customs rules in a move which Pridnestrovie sees as economic blockade.

Neighboring Moldova receives economic aid from the European Union. In a visit to Brussels last week, a Moldovan parliamentary delegation obtained a pledge of more than Euro 40 million in financial assistance from the European Union. None of this money is shared with Pridnestrovie. The Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica, with more than 500,000 inhabitants, can not obtain European Union financial aid on its own. Due to its unrecognized status, and lack of integration in the international system, it is shunned in Brussels. Instead, its hospitals and orphanages rely on donations from private aid organizations, religious communities and individual donors in the West.