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Latest CMMB Medical Shipments

In February 2010, CMMB made 26 shipments of donated medicines and supplies to 8 countries, valued at US$2.7 million. So far in fiscal year 2010, CMMB has shipped 154 donations to 21 countries, valued at US$53,308,332.

Partner: Father Gaston of the Diocese of Mbujimayi
Country: Democratic Republic of Congo

There are only four hospitals in Mbuji-Mayi, Democratic Republic of Congo for three million people. The Diocese of Mbujimayi is spread over more than 6,000 square miles and places a priority on healthcare. Recently the Diocese inaugurated a new hospital to serve the bulging population. Because the city has grown rapidly and disproportionately to its capacity, the risk of contamination for infectious diseases is very high and the spread of epidemic diseases is rapid in the Diamond City.

CMMB has supported Father Gaston Muyombo of the Diocese of Mbujimayi and their hospital, St. Jean Baptiste, with three containerized shipments of medicines and medical supplies valuing nearly $500,000 since 2000. St. Jean Baptiste Hospital serves 600,000 people and treats 27,000 patients annually; staff includes four medical doctor, 49 nurses, one trained nurse (dentistry), and 29 other healthcare professionals; diseases afflicting the targeted population include: malaria, urinary infections, intestinal worms, TB, anemia, and typhoid fever. With the new hospital, Our Lady of the Hope Hospital, Father Gaston hopes to help ease the suffering and overwhelming needs of the patient population.

Inaugurated on August 2nd, 2008, the Our Lady of the Hope Hospital has a capacity of 250 inpatients. The ceremony was attended by thousands of people, including: civil leaders, church hierarchy, honorable guests, neighboring villagers, and CMMB Volunteer, Dr. Florence Schenker. Father Gaston, touched by her presence, comments “We had the privilege of having on site a CMMB volunteer that witnessed the grand opening sealing the long relationship that we have with CMMB.” He also thanked CMMB for “your continual encouragement that brought me to make the dream today reality.”

Unfortunately, due to the severe crisis that affects Congo today, Dr. Schenker has since returned to the States. The first two weeks after the inauguration, however, the team of dedicated healthcare professionals offered free treatment to the overwhelming numbers of patients that visited daily. Shortly after, due to financial strains, they had to start charging fees for consultations, which resulted in a sharp drop in visits to no more than ten per day. Father Gaston writes to CMMB, “We are struggling between making the hospital become a small clinic for the neighbor villages or just close the hospital. In our struggle, I am appealing to you again for help: sending us medicines will make the Hospital survive the economic crisis and save thousands of lives.”

Partner:

CMMB has supported Holy Rosary International Medical Mission with three shipments with a total value of US$36,473 since we first began partnering in May 2007. Most recently, in May 2008, CMMB put together a shipment for the group’s medical mission trip to the Philippines and Vietnam. Packed with blood pressure medicines from Merck, skincare kits from Ortho-McNeil Janssen, antibiotics from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Tylenol and gastrointestinal medicines from Johnson & Johnson, and respiratory medicines from Boehringer Ingelheim, the team was able to provide medical care to over 700 patients in the Philippines and 300 patients at the Kim Long Clinic in Vietnam.

In addition to providing rudimentary care such as over the counter drugs, the team was able to call on the assistance of several American doctors for visits that required careful supervision in the provision of care. The group thanks CMMB for their indispensable role in the mission, writing “It is fulfilling to do the work that Holy Rosary International Medical Mission does, but it only works because you provided the needed medical supplies and drugs for our mission…”

The group plans to travel to Vietnam again in February 2009, when they hope to venture further into the mountainous regions to provide medical services to the indigenous people living there.

Partner: Hope for Haiti

Country: Haiti

While CMMB is not a disaster relief organization, we make every effort to fulfill requests we receive from partners who have been affected by natural or political crises. Last September, when Haiti was ravaged by Hurricanes Gustav, Hanna, and Ike, we reached out to our trusted partners in the pharmaceutical and medical supply industries appealing for donations of essential drugs, medical supplies, and monetary support, for our brothers and sisters in Haiti, where CMMB has been rooted since our founding in 1928.

Thanks to support we received from trusted partners Ortho-McNeil Janssen, McNeil Consumer Healthcare, J&J Consumer Companies, Ethicon Endo-Surgery, DePuy Orthopaedics, Abbott, Schwarz, Teva, Scot- Tussin, BD, Unipharm, APP, Boca, Xanodyne, Romark, River’s Edge, BI, Geritrex, and World Vision in the way of primary healthcare medicines and supplies, we were able to send seven 40-foot sea containers to the Artibonite and South-East Department, where our partners on the ground reached many of the 650,000 people displaced by the flooding. In addition, we are indebted to Merck & Co., Inc. and J&J for their generous cash grants to cover costs associated with shipping the containers and to fulfill outstanding needs such as: bed nets, oral rehydration salts, mattresses, metal sheeting, and water purification tablets.

Container shipments for Food for the Poor, Nos Petits Freres et Soeurs (Our Little Brothers and Sisters), and Paroisse Saint Francois de Sales supported the provision of primary healthcare through outreach activities to the affected communities. Also noteworthy was the coordination of a CMMB donation to Hope for Haiti in Naples, Florida with their previously scheduled airlift to Les Cayes on September 22nd. This shipment, containing US$83,762 worth of medicines and medical supplies, according to Dorothy Pullen, Executive Director of Hope for Haiti, benefited “the forgotten people of Les Cayes who have been cut off from the rest of Haiti due to washed out roads and bridges.”

CMMB Healing Help Medical Shipments Archive

November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
June/July 2007
May 2007

CMMB Healing Help Medical Shipments

Latest CMMB Medical Shipments

CMMB Global Distribution Center

Medical Shipments Over Past Six Years

Medical Supplies for Mission Trips

Partnership for Quality Medical Donations

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