The Labexchange Foundation donated several laboratory devices with a value of 3,120 euros to a hospital in Gambia.
Dr. Antonie Bäuerle, internist and member of the working group Integration Frickenhausen, is part of an 8-member project group that has set itself the goal of improving health care in Gambia.
With the help of a grant from the county of Esslingen (Sparkasse) the team succeeded in organizing the shipment of a 40 foot container. The container will be loaded with various medical and analytical equipment. Labexchange participated in this project with a PCR Techne-TC-3000G, an Eppendorf Mastercycler personal, a Siemens freezer, a shaker and a GFL water bath.
It all began after a memorable stay in hospital in Gambia, whereupon Dr. Bäuerle began collecting urgently needed medical and laboratory equipment.
She has travelled repeatedly to West Africa for several years. Together with various representatives of working groups from the Esslingen county she visited Gambia for the first time in 2017. When a member of the group fell ill, they went to a state Gambian hospital. "This visit was completely unplanned and it was immediately obvious that everything was missing there: buildings, medication, functioning equipment and personnel," reported Dr. Bäuerle.
Back in Germany, this hospital stay kept the group busy for a long time. They began to collect donations. In the beginning they sent various dressing materials and small medical equipment to Gambia. A Gambian refugee living in Frickenhausen established contact with a hospital employee and a medical technician on site. With great joy of the colleagues and sisters in Gambia, donations of a discarded ultrasound device (3 transducers), an oxygen concentrator (new), FC measuring devices and various dressing materials followed. Everything, down to the last patch, arrived at its destination with the help of the two contacts at the destination.
Dr. Bäuerle now wants to continue this success story by shipping the loaded 40-foot container. Such projects are especially dear to the Labexchange Foundation, which is why the founder of the foundation, Dr. Wolfgang Kuster, did not hesitate for a second to get involved.
Labexchange wishes Dr. Bäuerle and her team the very best for her project.
