Medical Aid to Somalia 2014

 A 40ft container crammed with valuable hospital equipment will soon be leaving Melbourne for Somalia. 

The container includes 50 mechanically-raiseable beds each worth $8000 when new, a bath-bed for triage, two blood dialysis machines and chairs ($50,000 each when new) two oxygen machines, 20 brand new walking frames, and scores of boxes of gauze, syringes, and catheters.

 “We estimate the container-load would have a replacement value in excess of $500,000”, says Peter Cribb, past-president of Flemington Rotary. 

 

The western-suburbs Somali community threw its weight behind the project. They raised $8000 to help cover the container and freight costs. Nine Somalis helped load the container at Rotary’s ‘Donations In Kind’ (DIK) depot in West Footscray, and others painted the container with Rotary inspired branding.

 

Allan Bruno of Flemington RC says the Somali input will also help get the contents delivered safely to hospitals in Puntland Province.  The province has a population of 5m, half the total Somalian population.

 

The initiative came from Dr Mahomed Omar, who represents Puntland in Melbourne.
His request for medical equipment was made to   Flemington  RC. DIK regularly receives quality used medical equipment.  Graeme Thompson, President of Footscray Rotary and a recently retired senior medical officer with Western Health, helped locate the superseded medical equipment. 

 

The beds being shipped to Somalia came from NSW. Cribb says they are particularly suitable because they are manually rather than electrically operated. Laurie Fisher, the DIK store manager is assisted on the medical aspects by Rotarian/DIK volunteer Bronwyn Stephens, a retired nurse, who helps to provide expert advice.

 

The Footscray and Flemington Rotary Clubs are among the nine clubs helping fund DIK.