CLARK FREEPORT – Twenty 40-footer container vans carrying various hospital equipment would be sent to Marawi City from United States, through the World Medical Relief, Inc., to help in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of hospitals there.
WMRI President and CEO George Samson said his group is committed to help in the rehabilitation of hospitals in Marawi City “as part of our fulfillment to the mission which is to ‘help God’s sick poor’.”
The Michigan-based charitable institution is facilitating the cargo shipment in cooperation with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), Samson said during media forum hosted by Pampanga journalists.
The container vans are carrying hospital equipment such as x-ray machines, cardiac monitors, operating room tables, surgical tools, beds, scopes as well as assorted medical supplies.
Samson said the cargo are expected to arrive in the next few months. One 40-foot long container could typically carry hospital equipment with value ranging from $300,000 to $500,000.
Dr. David Zarate, WMRI Ambassador of Health in the Philippines, said the 64-year old charitable institution has previously donated medical equipment to Mindanao region, including the SMD General Hospital in Marawi City.
The Philippines has been recipient of about $500 million worth of medical equipment and supplies since 1994.
Samson has also committed to help the Northern Mindanao Medical Center in Cagayan De Oro. The pledge was made during his courtesy call on Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel with BBIF Chairman Bong Alvaro and Senior Adviser Abel Manliclic.
Alvaro, whose BBIF is also immersed in various corporate social responsibility projects like medical missions and scholarship project, lauded WMRI efforts to reach as many individuals in various countries.
Samson also announced that WMRI will be officially launching the distribution of rehabilitated heart pacemakers under the “My Heart, Your Heart” program in cooperation with University of Michigan Cardio Vascular Center.
WMRI is set to distribute to indigent patients all over the world some 63,000 recycled pacemaker units that, if brand new, cost between $10,000 and $25,000 each when purchased in the United States. A patient at the AUF Medical Center – Vergel Cudia – was one of the recipient of brand new pacemaker.