Peace Boat Disaster Relief (PBV) to launch medical relief project for wounded civilians from Ukraine
In cooperation with Hiroshima University in Japan, Tbilisi State Medical University and Ken Walker University in Georgia Medical Rehabilitation Clinic, and The First University Clinic in Georgia, PBV launches a medical relief project utilizing medical technology to help injured Ukrainian citizens including children. The ultimate goal of the project is to accelerate the rehabilitation process and help the patients reintegrate into society in a short time.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine began about a year ago. PBV has carried out multiple projects to support civilians affected by the war in Ukraine in partnership with five NGOs since March 2022, and now implements a new project to expand the support. Unfortunately, the number of war victims continues to rise. According to M. Iashvili Children’s Central Hospital in Georgia, which receives and treats the wounded during the war in Ukraine, the number of people in need of rehabilitation to regain their ability to walk exceeds 20,000. Treatment and rehabilitation for patients with damage to their brain take time, and in many cases, their brain is left with permanent damage. Georgian hospitals work to treat and rehabilitate Ukrainian patients who have suffered head trauma and other injuries every day, but unfortunately, many of them do not make a full recovery.
The project will deliver a Japan-made walking assistant robot called RE-Gait*1 to a rehabilitation hospital in Georgia and remotely instruct how to use it and build the system. Currently, it is common that patients who need rehabilitation for walking for stroke and/or brain-damaged only receive orthotics that only immobilize their legs. There have been no rehabilitation methods or robots to assist ankle motion while walking. RE-Gait will enable functional movement of the ankle, knee, and hip joints in tandem by programming and electrically assisting them in accordance with the patient’s gait cycle using a tablet. 
Approximately 700 stroke patients have already used this system in Japan, and it has been reported that their gait function has recovered. With the introduction of this robotic rehabilitation, it is expected that Ukrainian patients with a head injury will learn to walk independently and normally in about two months.
This project aims to help war victims in Ukraine regain their pre-injury lives and, in the future, provide medical assistance with Japanese science and technology. We also hope the technology to enhance the rehabilitation capacity in the region.
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*1 “RE-Gait” is a walking aid device. The device assists post-stroke hemiplegic patients in their direction of travel and brings them closer to a normal walking style.