Province receives medical equipment from Belgian donor
Governor Davide thanks Patrick Hagheddorn of Belgium for donating the medical equipment to Cebu province. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
VARIOUS medical equipment from Belgium were formally turned over to the Cebu provincial government last Thursday.
The goods arrived in three 40-foot container vans last Wednesday and were brought to the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) for inventory.
“We are very thankful for this donation. The items will be distributed among the 16 provincial and district hospitals in Cebu, especially the island hospitals,” said Gov. Hilario Davide III.
Davide said he still has to meet Dr. Cynthia Genosolango, head of the provincial health office, to determine which medical equipment will be given to the hospitals.
Donated items include wheelchairs, stationary bicycles, walkers, examination tables, baby beds, pillows, blankets, crutches, rescue beds, diapers and delivery tables.
Patrick Hagheddorn, the 59-year-old Belgian donor, said the donation came from at least three hospitals in his country.
“The hospitals willingly gave these items because they know it will go to the right place,” he said.
Hagheddorn, a native of Legedem town in the Belgian province of West Flanders, started approaching hospitals in his hometown for donations when he met a Filipino priest who worked with the “Tahanang Walang Hagdan” in Cainta, Rizal, eight years ago.
He decided to help the priest after finding out that he was collecting wheelchairs for persons with disabilities.
Since then, he regularly sent one to two container vans full of wheelchairs every year for four years.
Hagheddorn, who works in a telephone company in Belgium, will be flying back to his hometown next week after a three-week stay in Cebu.
It was his first time to donate to the Cebu provincial government. In 2014, he sent relief goods to Camotes Islands after typhoon Yolanda.
Hagheddorn also sent relief goods to Southern Leyte, the worst hit province in the Visayas during the typhoon.
He said his latest donation is “probably worth a few millions.”
The Capitol spent at least P300,000 to shoulder the cost of shipping.
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