The Icelandic prosthetics manufacturer Össur received a 30 million ISK grant from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Fund to support Ukraine. The director of the company says the goal is to provide long-term support to Ukrainians who have lost limbs during the Russian invasion of their homeland, reports RÚV.
Sveinn Sölvason says his company will add equipment worth another 30 million ISK to the project—making the project worth 60 million overall. He adds, though, that giving and sending equipment to Ukraine is a temporary solution and that the company wants to provide ongoing long-term support.
“We are today training Ukrainian experts who will continue to serve these individuals. We have already committed to serve 20 people, but the numbers are much higher. We really don’t have any confirmed numbers on how many individuals [have lost limbs] but there are hundreds,” Sveinn says.
Sveinn says the war has affected Össur directly. One percent of its income, for example, has traditionally come from Russia, but company leaders decided to stop trading with the country when it invaded Ukraine.
“We have come through this pretty well. The supply chain was difficult through COVID, and this war has had a significant effect on it too. But it has first and foremost had the effect of increasing raw material prices and transport costs have gone up, which is having an impact on all companies today. That’s true of us too,” Sveinn says.
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