A Not-For-Profit organisation, MedDropBox Inc., has donated some essential medical supplies to the University of Ghana Medical Center (UGMC) and Masigan Medical Center at Amrahia.
The donation to UGMC was handed to the Orthopaedic Department of the hospital facility.
These essential medical supplies were sourced from clinics and hospitals in the United States and some were refurbished for use in countries which are in need of these supplies’.
The UGMC Orthopaedic Department was a preferred recipient for the donation mainly because the majority of the supplies are used for orthopaedic procedures as the president of the organisation mentioned;
“These donations came from an Orthopaedic Center in the United States, Connecticut specifically, and we were looking for a facility that could use these specialised supplies because they are high intensive medical supplies, and University of Ghana Medical Center fits that profile because they are the ones that do high intensive care and so these supplies would be of most advantage to them compared to others”, Mr. Nana Somuah said.
This was the second time MedDropBox Inc. has donated to the Orthopaedic Department of UGMC and Dr. Andrew Eyram Kemetse, Head of Orthopaedics and Surgeon, received the items on behalf of the department.
He expressed gratitude for receiving these items for the second time from MedDropBox Inc, acknowledging the first donation was useful and these ones would enhance the services his department renders to patients.
“These are the second set of items we have received from MedDropBox, it is commendable their efforts to help us improve our services with these donations. We found the first donation useful and I am certain these ones will be useful”, Dr. Kemetse added.
Dr. Kemetse was excited about the relationship MedDropBox Inc. has built with them and they would love to continue this partnership in the long term,
He said “we believe there will be more to come from them, certainly we will write to them for some specific support we need”.
However, according to Mr Sulayman Usman, Director at MedDropBox Inc. who spoke to the media, ‘the organisation solicits medical donations from healthcare facilities in the United States, whether new or slightly used and donates these items to clinics and hospitals in Africa’.
Mr. Usman added that ‘for now the focus is on Ghana and the organisation’s long term goal is to expand into other African countries. By then the work of the organisation would be streamlined by a technology platform to link the donors to the recipients’.
Subsequently, Masigan Medical Center received some general essential medical items from MedDropBox Inc, which will aid in their delivery of quality healthcare in their area.
Dr. Ayatula Shiabu, medical doctor in charge of the facility was thankful to receive the donation from MedDropBox Inc. as a big relief for the charity work that the facility does in the community for their patients,
“We see a lot of patients come here who are not well to do and so we are forced to do a lot of charity work here. So we are very happy this organisation, MedDropBox, is here to support us.
We are very grateful for everything that is here. We asked for certain things like sutures, catheters, and others. I believe there is more than what we asked for in these boxes. We plan on liaising with specialists who can use them to come and give better service to the people around here”.
Dr. Shiabu was hopeful that the partnership would remain for long when he added that ‘we are very grateful and we hope that the partnership grows bigger and we can get more help from MedDropBox and for us to support them in any way possible.
Moving on, Mr. Usman shared some of the challenges MedDropBox faces in executing this charitable work in Ghana.
“One of the biggest concerns we face is that we are still working on building a database where our platform can easily link donors to those who need these items. Sometimes these things will be sitting there for months before they get to Ghana. It is worrying when by the time we find the clinics or hospitals that need them some are close to expiration”.
Therefore he called on clinics and hospitals to reach out to the organisation for these kind of support;
“We are calling out to clinics and hospitals who would want to join the non-profit for this kind of support and they can contact us at MedDropBox Inc.”
MedDropBox is open to working with all hospitals, especially medium to very small hospitals, that need more assistance”.
MedDropBox Inc. is looking to build an end to end technology platform that will seamlessly match donors to recipients to reduce waste and improve the effective use of medical donations across the globe.
