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MediSend/International
A creative recycling program
founder and chair, MediSend
Medical supplies that are past sterile date, provisions opened but never used, working equipment replaced by newer technology—these materials, considered hospital waste in wealthy countries, often sit in warehouses or find their way to landfills.
At a cost of more than $700 million in disposal charges, the US healthcare system generates more than 4 billion pounds of hospital waste each year. Ironically, much of what hospitals dispose of is not waste, but safely reusable medical supplies and equipment valued at more than $6.25 billion annually. Meanwhile, in poorer nations, standard medical materials such as surgical gloves and sutures are too precious to throw away.
MediSend/International is an apolitical, nonsectarian charity that collects and recycles usable surplus surgical, diagnostic, and therapeutic medical supplies and equipment that the healthcare industry in wealthy countries routinely discards. Most of the supplies MediSend receives will not biodegrade within our lifetimes—if at all—and pose a substantial environmental problem when incinerated or dumped in landfills.
MediSend collaborates with corporations, medical associations, schools, businesses, and organizations to provide the volunteer support to sort, inventory, and pack the donated goods. The medical equipment and supplies then are shipped in response to requests from qualified charitable institutions in developing countries that offer services to the indigent. Volunteers also sponsor and personally deliver items to qualified recipients worldwide.
Each recipient must complete an extensive application that determines the needs and the infrastructure available to support the equipment. A smooth, consistent collection and distribution operation is maintained with the assistance of an access-based inventory tracking system. Once approved, applicants can “shop” online and reserve the inventory they need. They also may work with staff to select inventory at MediSend’s Distribution Center. Each shipment typically is valued at $80,000 to $350,000 (value is based on half the wholesale price); the actual economic and life-saving value is immeasurable.
Foundations, individuals, organizations, and corporations sponsor shipments in areas where they have interests. The donated supplies and the volunteer workforce allow MediSend to maximize every donated dollar.
MediSend also works with developing countries to create partner organizations in order to raise sponsorship funds within their country and to negotiate with Customs to waive import duties. Strong partnerships with trusted allies help ensure donations reach those in need with minimal delay. These partnerships, in conjunction with strict reporting guidelines, allow MediSend to verify that shipments arrive at their destinations.NATIONS IN NEED
With an average annual healthcare budget of less than $5 per person in the developing world, few funds are left for equipment and supplies. Highly trained physicians in developing nations often find their ability hampered because of lack of proper equipment and must routinely turn away patients. Reusing syringes inadvertently spreads diseases, and, without an adequate supply of syringes for immunization, infants succumb to preventable diseases such as polio, rubella, and measles. In many instances, patients must lie on straw mats on the floor, sometimes without sheets. When gloves are not available, medical personnel often wrap their hands in plastic bread bags. Patients die of dehydration as a result of a shortage of proper IV equipment. Routine procedures such as dental work, mending a broken bone, correcting a cleft palate, and performing a tonsillectomy are impossible without the surgical masks, gloves, and scalpels that wealthy countries take for granted.
MediSend provides a vehicle to address and improve health in developing countries. Sufficient data supports the concept that the good health of a population is a prerequisite for economic, political, and social development. Improvements in the health of the poor can enable them to move out of poverty, and improvement of a community’s health can attract investment and tourism. Adequate health care is essential to community revitalization because health has such a tremendous impact on the person’s ability to play a positive role in the community’s development.
Our medical partners have donated wheelchairs, suture sets, gloves, gowns, beds, syringes, stethoscopes, centrifuges, and defibrillators. As a result, over the past 13 years MediSend/International has diverted more than 400 tons of usable medical supplies from landfills and incinerators—valued in excess of $14 million, resulting in more than 400 shipments to 71 countries.For more information contact MediSend/International at 214-696-0901, info@medisend.org, or visit www.medisend.org.
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