Last week, we blogged about the challenges facing African health care programs because they can’t find adequate medical workers.

There is also a grave shortage of basic medical equipment and supplies.

That’s where Doc to Dock comes in. Doc to Dock, the brainchild of Dr. Bruce Charash, was founded to connect the tremendous surplus of medical equipment and supplies in one part of the world to the great need in another by engaging physicians, nurses and volunteers in a collaborative effort to collect, sort, ship and distribute unused medical supplies to hospitals and patients that need them most.

Every day thousands of patients in the developing world are turned away from hospitals and medical centers due to a lack of basic medical equipment and supplies.

Shortage of medical supplies is compounding the region’s health crisis and is a recognized problem. “Morale is low all over the developing world, where doctors and nurses have the knowledge to save lives but lack the tools. Where AIDS and drug-resistant TB now burn through populations like forest fires, health-care workers say that the absence of medicines and other supplies leaves them feeling more like hospice and mortuary workers than healers.”
— Foreign Affairs, January/February, 2007

Doc to Dock is dedicated to improving the health and lives of people in Africa by providing healthcare workers with the tools they need.

It is estimated that in the United States thousands of tons of medical supplies are discarded every day due to overproduction, procedural excess and regulatory requirements. This surplus of medical materials is either incinerated of deposited in landfills, both of which are harmful to the environment.

Doc to Dock strives to reverse this cycle of waste by collecting the unused medical supplies from New York hospitals and shipping them to hospitals and clinics in need in Africa.

The first shipment was made in May 2007 when Doc to Dock delivered a 40-foot container of medical supplies and equipment to the Hubert Maga Hospital in Cotonou, Benin.

Hurrah for Doc to Dock! Visit the Doc to Dock website to learn how you can help.