30 Pallets of Essential Medicine for the Philippines on board Air Canada flight

PHOTO OP:

HPIC's Emergency Relief Team Readies Large Volume of Medicines for Transport to Philippines
Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2013: 7:30 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.
HPIC DC: 1060-B Lorimar Drive, Mississauga, ON L5S 1R8

MISSISSAUGA, ON, Nov. 25, 2013 /CNW Telbec/ - Enough medicine to provide 240,000 treatments will be flown from Toronto to Frankfurt courtesy of Air Canada on Tuesday to provide emergency medical relief to the Philippines following the typhoon that struck Nov. 8 and 9. The essential medicines and medical supplies were donated by dozens of Canadian healthcare companies to HPIC, a Canadian not-for-profit relief and development organization dedicated to increasing access to medicine and improving health in the developing world.

"Our operations staff worked over the weekend to get 400 Emergency Physician Travel Packs assembled and packed on to pallets for a humanitarian charter out of Frankfurt into Cebu, Philippines on Dec. 2," said Wes Robinson, HPIC's Director of Emergency Relief.

Robinson compared this provision of essential medicine to the large donation of medicine made to Sri Lanka following the tsunami in 2004. "In total, there are 30 pallets, each one about 58 inches tall, filled with medicines. The total value is about $1.8 million," he said.

HPIC works according to best practices and to the World Health Organization's Guidelines for Medicine Donations. In the Philippines, HPIC has two representatives on the ground coordinating and monitoring the relief projects to ensure that medicines are handled properly and distributed according to plan.

Dr. Jorge Martinez is on the ground in Cebu, which is the city where the international aid is being staged. "He is attending the World Health Organization Emergency Health Cluster Meetings and is the eyes and ears of HPIC in the Philippines," Robinson said. This large volume of medicine will be personally received by Dr. Martinez and distributed by the WHO Health Cluster across the affected area where the needs are greatest.

This provision of essential medicine is a project with IHP-UK, a fellow member of the Health+Hope Alliance. The funding is provided by the U.K. Government and donors across Canada.

Every $1 donated to HPIC will provide at least $10 of essential medicine to the Philippines. Until Dec. 9 the Government of Canada is matching $1 for $1 all donations to HPIC for Philippines relief.

Donations can be made securely online to HPIC:  http://bit.ly/1cfwB9m

SOURCE: Health Partners International of Canada

Christina Parsons
Senior Director, Communications
Cell: 514-949-9183
[email protected]
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