US-based NGODonates To UG Hospital

MedDropBox Inc., a US-based non-profit, has donated assorted medical items to the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC), one of the country’s biggest referral hospitals, to augment healthcare delivery at the facility.

The items included: Sutures, Penrose Drains, Catheters, Surgical Blades, Tipless Stone Extractors, and more.

The donation was made on Thursday, June 2, 2022 at the forecourt of the Hospital’s Outpatients Department (OPD) at a brief ceremony.

The non-profit, incorporated in Delaware in the United States of America, has its focus to streamline the medical device and supplies donation program to low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) by engaging with donors and recipients throughout the value chain.

It ensures proper coordination to generate the maximum value from medical donations.

Handing over the items, Founder and President of MedDropBox Inc., Nana Somuah, disclosed that his non-profit aims to supply more of these medical items to facilitate quality healthcare delivery in the beneficiary hospitals.

Nana explained that, this was the main focus for MedDropBox, and the team is working on a tech solution to streamline the donation process.

According to him, the donation to the hospital was intended to place the health facility in a position to provide quality health care to the general public, especially low-income patients.

Mr. Somuah indicated that his organization has plans to make more donations in the coming months, stressing ‘this is just the beginning’.

He reveals his outfit has lots of supplies from different hospitals in [the] US willing to support the initiative and, therefore, what is important now, is to ensure judicious use of the items.

“This is more like a testing ground. I have a lot of supplies from different hospitals. Our contract with the Orthopedic Department of Bristol Health in Connecticut is an example. The idea was to test it out, to make sure recipient facilities can really use the devices and make good use of it”.

“So, there’s going to be a lot more; it’s about efficient use of what we’ve already sent. So, if they are using it well and gaining lots of value, then we can scale it up”,Mr. Somuah stated.

Receiving the items on behalf of the hospital, the Chief Executive Officer [CEO] of the UGMC, Dr. Darius Osei, expressed gratefulness for the kind gesture, stressing the items will complement those that the facility has been buying.

“These are medical consumables, and most of them are general surgical consumable; so if you talk about what we do here, with the kind of specialists we have and, of course, it will complement the consumables that we purchase at work. So, we are very grateful for the gesture”.

“We want to thank them, because in these days and times, medical care and the level of services we give here is expensive, so we will use them on patients who are unable to pay their bills. And so, am sure it will go a long way to alleviate the financial burdens on most of the people who come to us. We will put them into good use to ensure the poor benefits, and make sure, there’s equity”, he said.

Dr. Osei, took the opportunity to make a passionate appeal to donors to involve management of hospitals, when soliciting for such supports.

According to him donations are good, however, going forward NGOs, non-profits, and donors must ensure they involve management of the facilities; so that, every item donated would be useful for use.

“Donations are good, but we had some discussions that, we must be involved. Because most at times, when they solicit these donations, being an NGO/non-profit, they will get all sort of things which become not very useful to us, even though some lower levels (facilities) may need them. But when we are involved in the selection process, then we can have a purposeful selection which is targeted towards the specialists that we have”.

He explained that, even though what the UGMC has gotten will be useful to the facility, it is advised that going forward, anytime donors would want to bring anything, medical experts need to be involved.

Other staff of UGMC present to receive the items include the Director of Nursing and Midwifery Service, Judith Asiamah; Dr. Andy Kemitse of the Orthopedic Department, and Ms. Barbara Owusu-Hemeng – Head of Customer and Public Relations at the Centre.

source:theanchorghana