GE Healthcare donates used medical equipment to International Aid for
use in developing countries
14 June 2007
Spring Lake, Mich. & Waukesha, Wis. USA. GE Healthcare has formed a
partnership with global humanitarian healthcare agency International Aid to
supply medical equipment to developing countries. GE Healthcare will
donate previously used equipment to International Aid. To start with this
will be anaesthesia machines and ventilators, but it is planned to be
extended to cover a variety of other equipment, including maternal and
infant care equipment, patient monitors and ultrasound systems.
GE will provide training to International Aid engineering staff to enable
International Aid to service the equipment. International Aid will refurbish
and distribute the products overseas and will also provide education and
product support to help local hospitals successfully deploy the donated
equipment.
International Aid will coordinate the transport of the donated equipment
from the company’s Wisconsin-based facilities to International Aid’s
headquarters facility in Spring Lake, Michigan. There, a dedicated
International Aid team will refurbish the equipment for distribution
overseas and manage all related, logistical arrangements.
The new initiative is expected to involve the global distribution of more
than 200 devices annually.
International Aid's operations International Aid is currently a
leading non-profit refurbisher and distributor of donated medical equipment.
The agency’s extensive equipment-related operations are currently under
review by the United Nations and other organizations evaluating best
practices for overseas healthcare delivery.
During its 2006 fiscal year, International Aid shipped nearly 1,400
donated therapeutic and diagnostic devices to needy communities worldwide.
Its related equipment-training program has trained nearly 500 technicians
from 18 countries to maintain and repair an array of medical devices; as
part of its work, International Aid maintains what it believes to be the
world’s most extensive database of product operation manuals for donated
medical equipment. Comments “GE Healthcare is continually
searching for new ways to extend the reach of our technologies and
services,” said Omar Ishrak, President and CEO of GE Healthcare’s Clinical
Systems business unit. “This innovative partnership gives us the opportunity
to bring our global medical technologies to International Aid’s global
relief solutions. Together, we increase the opportunity to improve access to
healthcare for the world’s patients.” “Through our close relationships
with a growing number of corporate donors, International Aid is playing an
increasingly significant role in elevating the quality of healthcare in some
of the neediest, and often most remote, places on earth,” said Myles D.
Fish, International Aid’s President and CEO. “Our new partnership with GE
Healthcare will enable us to take our work to a whole new level, introducing
best-in-class medical technologies to communities that have had, until now,
very little or no clinical capabilities.” To top
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