Commander of Ukrainian Medical Forces comments on supply of substandard tourniquets
The ongoing issue of providing the Medical Forces with all necessary supplies cannot be resolved instantly, but a sufficient stockpile of quality, certified individual medical kits for service members has been created. However, there are occasional cases of non-centralized deliveries of tourniquets of questionable quality.
Commander of the Medical Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Anatolii Kazmirchuk said this in an interview with Ukrinform.
"I haven’t seen a single institution head or doctor who would say they have everything they need. I’d say it’s an ongoing process, a perpetual issue, and it’s unrealistic to think it can be solved once and for all. But in this situation, the most important thing, as you rightly pointed out, is that the equipment used to save the lives of our service members is of high quality. Our top priority has been to ensure that our service members are equipped with high-quality, certified AMZIs (individual general-purpose military medical kits) and their components that meet international and NATO standards. As of today, we have managed to establish a sufficient stock of these AMZI components," Kazmirchuk stated.
Addressing the issue of substandard tourniquet supplies, Kazmirchuk acknowledged that this challenge remains under control, though non-centralized supplies sometimes include lower-quality items.
"Let’s be frank — there is a problem when some supplies, including tourniquets and individual military medical kits, reach our units without always meeting quality standards. Why is that? Well, some of these items arrive through non-centralized channels. What does this mean? We know and are always grateful to the citizens of Ukraine who have helped, are helping, and will continue to help the Armed Forces. However, sometimes the individual medical kits or tourniquets may come from questionable manufacturers," Kazmirchuk noted.
To monitor quality and standards, mobile medical supply teams now conduct periodic checks of protective equipment. Additionally, this year, the issue of discarding outdated medical kits has been resolved.
Kazmirchuk also mentioned that any substandard tourniquets are repurposed for training at mobilization centers.
As previously reported, Deputy Defense Minister Natalia Kalmykova, along with representatives from the Medical Forces Command and the Leleka Foundation, conducted an inspection of medical supply warehouses to assess the availability and condition of combat medic kits and backpacks in January 2024.