The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) has pledged $4.6 million of coronavirus equipment and supplies for Southeast Asian countries being ravaged by a fresh wave of COVID infections.
The university-based regional health care system is donating 200 pallets of ventilators, masks, gloves, gowns, sanitizer, CPAP machines, oxygen concentrators, and stethoscopes to COVID hotspots such as India and Sri Lanka, where the situation is much worse than in the United States.
Patrick Vizzard, Vice President of Supply Chain Management for UMMS said the supplies were procured early last year when the country was facing a shortage of healthcare items.
Now, more than a year into the pandemic, situations have eased and supply lines have become more open, prompting UMMS “to donate excess supplies to help with the needs of less fortunate countries.”
Helping Hands
Team members from the UMMS hospital and campus communities pushed the administration to consider the donation to save lives beyond the confines of the hospital.
“We are going way beyond our communities, to nations who are in desperate need of equipment and supplies,” Mohan Sunta, CEO of UMMS, said.
UMMS has joined hands with two international organizations, Project C.U.R.E. and the International Medical Health Organization, to assist in distributing the donated supplies.
The two nonprofits will support the university with logistics to transport the items from Maryland.
“These are unprecedented times, and the demand for medical relief has never been greater,” CEO of Project C.U.R.E. Douglas Jackson said, adding that he is grateful to UMMS for providing critically needed supplies to those in need.