Help send medical equipment to Tacloban

Help provide the communities of Tacloban (Philippines) with essential medical care

Tacloban city is located on the island of Leyte, and is home to 218 000 people, with many living in poverty in rural communities. Medical care is expensive, and access is often limited, with many living hours away from a hospital.

The rural health clinics provide free basic healthcare for the impoverished communities, however they are always understaffed and underfunded. They often lack even the most basic consumables such as gloves, face masks, antiseptic liquid and bandages.

Volunteer for Visayans (VFV), an amazing local NGO, organises an Annual Medical Missionfor these impoverished communities. Every year, a team of volunteer doctors, dentists, nurses and many others provide free medical treatment and surgery to hundreds of people who cannot afford to pay for it.

However, these medical missions are expensive, and it has been difficult for VFV to raise funds to purchase the necessary equipment, supplies and medicine.

We (the Material Aid Program, MUHI) have collected donations of the medical equipment needed 1) at the rural health clinics and 2) for the 2017 medical mission.

So what now?

We need to raise $15000 to ship these supplies over to Tacloban.

Where does the money go?

All of the equipment, such as gloves, masks, needles, syringes, dressings and surgical equipment, have been already been sourced as donations from around Melbourne. We have collected, sorted and packed these items in our warehouse.

All we need now are funds to ship this over to Tacloban.

A local freight-forwarding company has kindly provided us with wholesale shipping prices, which is less than half the standard cost. The cost of 4 strategically-timed, door-to-door airfreight consignments - 170kg of equipment - is $1200. There are no administration or hidden costs at all. In fact, every $1 you donate will send $20 of medical equipment to someone who needs it.

Any extra funds raised will be used to purchase medicine for the patients and to send more supplies to the clinics next year.

Impact

Our equipment will enable hundreds more people on the island of Leyte to receive the medical care they need. Some patients wait in pain for months for the medical mission, as they cannot afford simple treatments such as a tooth extraction.

We are relying on your support to enable the doctors, nurses and dentists to continue their life-changing work.

Please donate today to this very worthy cause!