A hospital in Zimbabwe has completed the installation of a low-cost x-ray unit purchased through donations raised by Rotary International, a U.S. charitable organization. The installation has inspired other Rotary clubs to pursue additional installations in other developing countries.
Mater Dei Hospital in Bulawayo installed the x-ray system in March as part of a pilot collaboration between the hospital and Rotary International’s Bulawayo and Park Ridge, IL, chapters. The system was an MRS unit, a low-cost x-ray system manufactured to the World Health Organization’s WHIS-RAD specifications by Philips Medical Systems of Andover, MA, and was purchased with a $20,000 matching grant from Rotary International.
The Zimbabwe project has spurred other Rotary clubs to pursue similar relationships, in which a club in a developing country that needs medical imaging technology is paired with a club in a developed country that raises funds for purchase of a system.
The following projects are already in the works:
- Six Italian Rotary clubs are organizing an effort to install a WHIS-RAD unit (Wizard, IMS of Bologna, Italy) in Gumry, Armenia.
- A club in North Carolina is working to install a Wizard system at a Salvation Army Hospital in the bush two hours from Lusaka, Zambia.
- A club in Winnetka, IL, has installed an x-ray unit in Armenia.
- Clubs in the West Indies island nation of St. Lucia and in Tbilisi, Georgia, are looking for donor clubs to partner with.
June 16, 2003
Related Reading
Rotarians help provide x-ray system in Zimbabwe, December 2, 2002
Rotary awards grant for Africa x-ray system, April 17, 2002
Rotarians assess need for WHIS-RAD imaging system in Zimbabwe, April 2, 2002
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