Hannah Hammoud
Medical equipment from Sunshine Private Hospital has been recycled for redistribution, with the goods headed towards hospitals in developing countries.
Sunshine Private Hospital has banded together with Australian Unity to donate $125,000 worth of equipment to Rotary Donations in Kind (DIK) for hospitals in developing countries, including Ethiopia and Zimbabwe.
Rotary Donations in Kind is a volunteer-based recycling facility used to collect and redistribute goods for developing countries and to disadvantaged individuals in the local community.
The donation features three aesthetic machines and a range of other equipment including, trolleys, an operating theatre table, refrigerators, and a number of wheeled beds.
Many health facilities in Australia upgrade equipment well before existing equipment has worn out, with an average life-cycle of 10 years.
The medical equipment was sourced from the closure of the previous Sunshine Day Hospital which was replaced with the opening of the Sunshine Private Hospital in February that had been furbished with new equipment funded through Australian Unity’s Healthcare Property Trust.
Australian Unity senior asset manager Peter Beale said the organisation wanted to give the equipment a new lease of life and deliver it to a community that would benefit from the donation.
“We were introduced to Rotary Donations in Kind and we organised to send the equipment to developing countries. They were interested in having any equipment we had available, and the list of donations which started off small just continued to grow,” he said.
Mr Beale said the medical equipment has been diverted from landfill, and was recently packed into a shipment container at DIK’s West Footscray facility, now on its way to a new home overseas.
“This equipment will be put to good use for a lot longer overseas, which were otherwise headed for a tip,” he said.
