Surplus Drugs Going To Indonesia And Korea

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30768, 4 June 1965, Page 16

Surplus Drugs Going To Indonesia And Korea

The first shipment of surplus drugs collected by a Christchurch group, Medical Aid Abroad, will go to three hospitals in Indonesia and one in Korea. Doctors and chemists on the Medical Aid Abroad committee selected these hospitals as the most needy from about 20 applications for help, received by the recently-formed group. Volunteer packers last night crated up the first £2OOO worth of drugs and prepared them for shipment to the four hospitals. The drugs are surplus to the requirements of doctors and chemists. This shipment of drugs will be the first since doctors, chemists and wholesalers joined with charitable groups, the National Council of Churches and the Roman Catholic Church to • make a complete collection of redundant drugs. In the past separate groups made collections but these have now joined in one organisation, so the right drugs are sent to the place where they are most needed. Each of the four hospitals selected will receive £5OO worth of drugs. The hospitals are the Calvary Clinic at Kang Won De in Korea, and three hospitals under the Indonesian Council of Churches —the Immanual Hospital at Badung, the William Booth Hospital at Surabaya, and the Waihabubah Hospital at Sumba. The shipments include antibiotics, vitamins, ointments, hormones, iron and liver pre-

parations, and bandages. Members of the United Nations Association and the St. Augustine’s Anglican Youth Club worked under chemists and doctors to pack the drugs. “Medical Aid Abroad was started on a shoe-string and it is gratifying that so many people have offered their help and tradestuffs enabling us to send such a lot of drugs to Asia within the first two months of our formation,” the chairman (Mr K. G. Heslin) said. “This first shipment was of drugs largely from Nelson, Westland and Marlborough, and we expect there are several thousand pounds worth more waiting for our collectors. Contact with 60 doctors in Christchurch over the last fortnight by members of Christchurch Round Table Number One has already brought in another £5OO worth of drugs for Asian hospitals.”