Rebuilding Cambodia's Hospitals

Posted by Pip Asphar
 
The Rotary Club of Osborme Park’s principal charitable project involves the recycling of used hospital equipment to Cambodia, where the public hospitals have very little and patients often do not even have beds provided for them.  Our club has shipped 22 x 40 foot containers of used hospital equipment & medical supplies having a replacement value of over $12 million to Cambodia over the past seven years.  The two C Arms recently sent have a replacement value of $300,000 each & the 16 Defibrillators new would have cost close to a $1 million.
 
The Rotary Club of Osborme Park’s principal charitable project involves the recycling of used hospital equipment to Cambodia, where the public hospitals have very little and patients often do not even have beds provided for them.  Our club has shipped 22 x 40 foot containers of used hospital equipment & medical supplies having a replacement value of over $12 million to Cambodia over the past seven years. The two C Arms recently sent have a replacement value of $300,000 each & the 16 Defibrillators new would have cost close to a $1 million.
The upgrading & replacement of Perth’s hospitals that has been occurring over the past few years has resulted in a lot of serviceable second hand equipment becoming available. Our new hospitals are mostly being equipped with all new fittings and many of the beds and other equipment in our old hospitals that are being shut down are being disposed of, resulting in a large volume of used equipment becoming available.  Rather than this being dumped, some of it is being recycled and put to good use in less developed countries.
This equipment has typically consisted of beds (which are in great demand in Cambodia) X Ray machines, monitors, pumps, theatre lights, C arms, screens, operating tables, humidicribs, hoists, intravenous hanging stands, wheel chairs, bed pans, Stryker drills, surgical equipment, to name just some of the equipment put to good use.
Members of our club collect the equipment from various hospitals and take it to Shipair’s warehouse, where they store it temporarily at no cost in a Container donated by a Club member.  Once sufficient equipment has been collected a busy bee is organised and the equipment packed into a container by club members and volunteers Nurses, Doctors & others. The Club then arranges shipment of the container to Cambodia at a discounted rate.
A retired WA Orthopaedic Surgeon, Dr Tim Keenan, who spends part of his time in Cambodia, arranges for the distribution and setup of the equipment in various public hospitals. Volunteer technicians & nurses, partly subsidized by the Club, then go to Cambodia to ensure the equipment is working and assist in training local hospital staff.
 
Tax deductible contribution for this project can be made here.  Please type in ‘Osborne Park Rotary-Cambodian Project’ in the  any requests field.  All funds donated go towards this project; there are no overhead costs, all management and packing etc. is done by volunteers.