UNMC sends medical supplies to Afghanistan

Ward Chambers, M.D., with UNMC Bookstore employees, from left to right, Laurie McKeever, Micki Gonzalez, Charli Suter. The bookstore is shipping boxes of medical supplies and textbooks to Afghanistan.

The UNMC Bookstore has donated approximately 25 boxes of nursing and medical books, as well as lab coats and scrubs to hospitals in Afghanistan. It is the first donation being sent from UNMC to the impoverished area.

The textbooks – roughly 350 in all — are from out-of-date inventory, said Charli Suter, assistant manager of the bookstore. “There’s not a need for them here because newer versions are being used in the classroom,” she said. “But, there’s a great need for textbooks in Afghanistan.” The donation is the largest ever done by the bookstore, she said.

During a medical outreach trip last fall, UNMC’s Ward Chambers, M.D., associate professor of internal medicine, traveled to Kabul, Afghanistan to explore the possibility of setting up a distance-learning program. Such a program would allow the University of Nebraska to use the Internet or other media to educate Afghan medical personnel. The president of Kabul University will visit UNMC and the University of Nebraska at Omaha this spring to further explore the possibility.

Ward Chambers, M.D., stands in front of some of the boxes being sent to Afghanistan.

During the trip, Dr. Chambers, a cardiologist, also provided health care at a Kabul hospital.

Since his return, he has established an avenue, through the University of Nebraska Foundation, for individuals to make financial donations to the effort. Checks should be made payable to the University of Nebraska Foundation (on the check’s memo, note the International Medical Education Fund).

In May, Dr. Chambers hopes to ship a 40-foot cargo container with medical donations to Afghanistan. For more information, contact the University of Nebraska Foundation at 595-2302 or Dr. Chambers at 559-3595.