The government has approved new rules for medical facilities depending on the level of air threat: at a yellow level hospitals and clinics keep working, at a red level patients and staff move to shelters, while care that is dangerous to interrupt continues.

Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi announced the decision, and the Ministry of Health explained the details.

What each colour means

A yellow level is declared for a drone threat. Medical facilities keep working, but staff, patients and visitors must have unobstructed access to shelters — using them is everyone’s own choice.

A red level means a missile, missile-and-drone or massed drone threat. Patients and medics then move to a shelter or the room with the lowest risk. Care that is dangerous to interrupt does not stop: surgery, resuscitation, intensive care. Patients who cannot be moved continue to be treated in the safest rooms, and in the shelters themselves it is allowed to provide care, dispense medicines and accommodate people.

Emergency medicine works continuously at any level: dispatchers take calls, crews go out, and patients in urgent conditions are admitted regardless of the siren. The government also set separate rules for pharmacies and the blood service.

How it looks in the Bucha community

Local facilities have already spelled out their own algorithm. At a yellow level the clinics and the diagnostic centre work as usual, and patients and visitors have free access to the nearest shelters or safe zones.

At a red level scheduled appointments are suspended and medics and visitors go to shelters. If there is no shelter and a single doctor is holding the appointment, the procedure is paused; new scheduled visits and home calls are not started during the signal. The same applies to blood donation: a procedure already under way is completed, new ones are not begun. Emergency care works without interruption, and procedures that cannot be stopped without risk to life are completed in the most protected zones of the facilities.

What else the decision changes

The government ordered stronger protection for operating theatres, intensive care, maternity and admission departments, rooms with backup power and critical equipment. Special attention goes to places with patients who cannot be moved quickly.

For the Bucha district this is not theory: on Monday the district spent almost the whole day under attack, and alerts here are declared several times a day. The same colour logic already governs the railways and petrol stations in the region.