The historical maximum of calls for emergency medical care is observed in Ukraine at the present time, similar to the situation that was in November-early December 2020, said head of the expert group on the provision of emergency medical care of the Department of Medical Services of the Ministry of Health Oleksandr Danyliuk.

"We see an increase in calls for emergency medical care mainly from patients with complicated COVID-19, because, as a rule, emergency medical care does not have such sharp surges, except in cases of severe icy conditions or bad weather conditions that contribute to injuries. As of now, there is a very sharp increase in the load on the emergency medical care system, so patients are queuing up," he said on the Doctor Bulavinova's YouTube channel on Thursday.

According to Danyliuk, as of April 31, 35,705 calls were made to 103 line for emergency medical care. For these appeals, there were 16,823 visits of the emergency medical aid team, 5,025 hospitalizations were carried out.

"A similar situation was observed in November-early December 2020, but now it is much worse," he said.

At the same time, Danyliuk noted that "with an increase in the number of patients with COVID-19, there is a tendency of increasing number of calls to 103 line, including because people have panic, and they call 103 line just to consult instead of calling the family doctor."

At the same time, he clarified that the travel time to the hospital was reduced, since the network of medical institutions is very large.

"Additional hospitals are opening almost every day in recent days, because those hospitals that were previously referral ones for COVID-19 are already overcrowded," the expert said.

The situation with the supply of oxygen to medical institutions has generally improved, said the representative of the Ministry of Health: "As the oxygen supply infrastructure has improved, the organization of logistics has become more centralized."

However, in the western region it remains critical - due to the breakdown of one of the largest enterprises located there, which provided oxygen to the western regions, the filling of oxygen cylinders has stopped. "This caused a serious crisis in several western regions. The situation is now being resolved by the fact that oxygen is sent from the central and even eastern regions," Danyliuk said.