To our delight, the Lamp clinic in Port-au-Prince yesterday received a large shipment of donated medicines.
As a medical organization with a permanent clinic, the Lamp is eligible for medical donations of this type. Nevertheless, the struggle to keep medicine costs down is a constant one. The Lamp provides all of its patients with free medication and this can be costly for us. Medicine donations from large pharmaceutical companies are usually limited to specific types of drugs. We must purchase the remaining items on our list of necessary drugs. This shipment, however, will have an exceptional impact on our ability to lower costs. Not only that, it is the first in a continuing series of donations that we expect from a brand new collaboration.
Direct Relief is a nonprofit that links with the pharmaceutical industry to provide medical donations, and we are very happy to say that we have become a “preferred partner” of this organization. The shipment yesterday was the first substantial donation since we acquired this status and we are looking forward to a long and mutually satisfying relationship! Direct Relief promises a minimum of four shipments of “essential medicines” each year.
Note that these medicine donations have always been a key way in which we can multiply the impact of our donors’ contributions. Until now, every dollar that a donor contributes leverages an additional one to two dollars in medicines and medical supplies. That proportion can only go up with this new partnership!
It may not look particularly neat, but this is high quality material!
