UMMS Donates $4.6M Worth Of COVID-19 Equipment & Supplies To Southeast Asia
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The University of Maryland Medical System plans to donate more than $4.6M in COVID-19 equipment and supplies to countries in Southeast Asia.
"Every day, we look at how we can provide medical care and address the needs of communities beyond the four walls of our hospitals," said Mohan Suntha, MD, MBA, President and CEO of UMMS. "In this case, we are going way beyond our communities, to nations who are in desperate need of equipment and supplies to help save lives and control the pandemic. Team members from our hospital and campus communities encouraged us to consider a donation, which shows the character of our staff and their dedication to caring for those in need."
The supplies including ventilators, masks, gloves, gowns, sanitizer, CPAP machines, oxygen concentrators, and stethoscopes, will be sent to countries where pandemic conditions are worse than the U.S. including India and Sri Lanka.
"These items were purchased at a time when the supply markets were very unstable, and we were focused on securing as much equipment and PPE as possible to ensure we were ready," said Patrick Vizzard, Vice President of Supply Chain Management for UMMS. "Now, 16 months into the pandemic, supply lines have become more open in the United States healthcare market. While the pandemic still continues across the planet, various countries are struggling to achieve necessary levels of care to combat COVID, and we've decided to donate excess supplies to help with the needs of less fortunate countries.
During the early months of the pandemic, supplies were very limited which created shortages of many items. UMMS is working with Project C.U.R.E. the world's largest distributor of donated medical equipment and supplies to resource-limited communities across the globe.
"Project C.U.R.E. is extremely grateful to UMMS for their generous support of our work to provide critically needed supplies," said Douglas Jackson, PhD, JD, President and CEO. "These are unprecedented times, and the demand for medical relief has never been greater. Certainly, Project C.U.R.E. could not accomplish our work without the partnership of compassionate, determined organizations like UMMS."
"We are most thankful to the University of Maryland Medical System for their very generous donation of much-needed life support equipment to be used in the hospitals of Sri Lanka for COVID patient care," said Kanaga N. Sena, MD, Vice President of the International Medical Health Organization.
