Shannon Uren, the General Manager and Director of Nursing at Maldon Hospital, had a problem last year when in the process of replacing Hospital beds & what to do with the old beds?

“I didn’t want to send 20 beds to landfill,” she said, “so I approached a number of charitable groups in Melbourne and Sydney asking if the beds were of any use to them.”

One group, Melbourne-based FESIDEV (Federation of International Seniors for Development), was very interested in the beds, and their staff members visited Maldon to investigate further & FESIDEV works with a worldwide organisation that takes equipment which may otherwise add to landfill and places it to meet needs in developing countries.

“FESIDEV said that the beds would be of use. They also accepted the offer of other equipment, including an ECG machine and crutches, from Castlemaine Health and CHIRP,” Shannon said. “We are grateful to Nic and Sarah of Castlemaine Honey. They supplied a truck to transport the equipment to Melbourne, where it was packed into shipping containers bound for Uganda.”

The equipment has now arrived and will be used to set up a hospital facility and teaching hospital. Dr Esther Tsafack is the Director of FESIDEV, and she explained that the equipment will be used by the Hope Comprehensive Medical Centre, which is aiming to build a hospital facility with 300 beds.

“Northern Uganda suffered greatly for over 20 years of the Lord Resistance Army insurgency which greatly devastated economic activities, reducing the majority of the population to abject poverty, incapable of taking care of their health and other basic needs,” Dr Tsafack said. “The Hope Comprehensive Medical Centre services refugee camps and provides subsidised health services to the many who cross over to Gulu from South Sudan to seek health services.”

This article appeared in the Tarrangower Times, 24 March 2023.