German hospital calls for 'expired' medical supplies for quake victims
25 February, 2023
There was an outrage on social media after an internal letter from the hospital seeking the collection of expired materials for the earthquake victims in Türkiye and Syria went viral.
As global aid continues to pour into Türkiye and Syria after two major earthquakes jolted the region on February 6, a German hospital has moved to jump on the bandwagon, notably with "expired" medical materials.
In an announcement, staff at the University Hospital Of Ulm were called to help donate material to support Türkiye and Syria.
“You can collect everything that has expired or for various reasons would go into the trash,” the call for help read, with the words “everything that has expired” written in bold.
Read More : Death toll from Syria-Turkey quake nears 10,000
“Materials that are still in use and have not expired are excluded,” the letter continued. As the news began circulating on social media, several Twitter users protested the move, with some asking: "Where is your humanity?"In a statement, the hospital claimed the letter was “not an authorised, official letter” but was from an “internal email,” adding that the institution regretted “the resulting misunderstandings.”
Over 49,000 dead
“Currently expired, but fully functional, high-quality and originally packaged consumables - such as bandages, stomach tubes or urinary catheters - are collected,” the hospital said in the statement to clarify their conduct.
“These materials, which explicitly do not include medicines, are passed on to an initiative to support the crisis regions. Non-expired items and materials needed for patient care at the UKU may not be given to third parties by the UKU.”
At least 43,556 people have died in Türkiye due to the twin earthquakes centred in the southern Kahramanmaras province. Over 13 million people in 11 Turkish provinces were affected.
On Monday, another 6.4 magnitude earthquake jolted the southern Hatay province followed by a magnitude 5.8 aftershock, killing at least six more people and injuring over 560 others.
The quakes on February 6 also devastated northern Syria, killing at least 5,800 people according to figures that were last updated days ago.
The total death toll from both countries has exceeded 49,300. Hundreds of thousands of others were injured and displaced as they lost their homes and belongings.
The earthquake survivors remain in need of further medical supplies and assistance, as well as shelter, warm clothing, foodstuffs, hygienic materials, and more.
Source: www.trtworld.com