Community hospital receives donated medical supplies

DSCN2453: (L-R) Roland Heimann and Araceli Bejar-Heimann of the German NGO Sampaguita Deutsch-Philippinischer e.V., Dr. Emmanuel Galor, Community Primary Hospitals Chief Dr. Chelsa Cacaldo and Sampaguita Deutsch-Philippinischer e.V  Supporting Officer and PPDO staff Nanette Tindoc.

        The German non-government organization Sampaguita Deutsch-Philippinischer e.V. turns over boxes of much-needed medical supplies and hospital equipment to Inapoy Community Primary Hospital in Mabinay, Negros Oriental. The NGO led by a Filipina, Araceli Bejar Heimann, was instrumental in securing donations which will help improve the capability of rural hospitals in the province

This is the second donation that the NGO has secured for Negros Oriental from German Ministry of Defense, with the first granted to the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital on Sept. 18, 2006. Thanks to Heimann’s organization, Negros Oriental is, so far, the first and only province that have been lucky enough to twice receive precious donations from Deutschland consisting of German-made superior quality medical equipment such as Aesculap opthalmoscopes and othoscopes.

“My only wish now is for the government procedures in our country regulating donated items from abroad be made easier and less burdensome,” said Heimann, referring to what she described as her ordeal in making sure that the intended beneficiaries receive the donations. “This second donation took 18 months before we finally got hold of the boxes. With that amount of time we could have been able to secure two more shipments of donations for the province but instead we spent it on the paperwork,” she said.

She, however, remains undaunted and assured that she will continue to solicit more needed donations in response to the critical need to equip the community hospitals for better delivery of health services in far-flung areas.