FOOD for the Poor Inc. on Wednesday donated a large quantity of medical equipment and supplies to the Port Mourant Maternity Hospital in Region Six and the West Demerara Chest Clinic in Region Three.

The items were handed over to Minister within the Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Karen Cummings, by Chief Executive Officer of Food for the Poor Inc., Kent Vincent, at a simple ceremony held at the donor’s headquarters in Festival City, Georgetown.

Others present at the handing-over ceremony included head of the National Tuberculosis (TB) Programme, Dr Joann Simpson; head of the Regional Health Services, Dr Dinelli Dripal; Co-ordinator of the National Desk, Ministry of Public Health, Denroy Tudor; Regional Health Officer, Region Three, Dr Ravendra Dudhnath; Director of Regional Health Services, East Berbice, Corentyne Jevaughn Stephens; adviser to the Senior Minister of Public Health; and FFP representative for Berbice Alex Foster.

Presenting the items to Dr Cummings, CEO Vincent referred to the healthy collaboration existing between Food for the Poor and the Ministry of Public Health and said he was pleased to have the minister visit on this occasion.

“Food for the Poor, as you know, is interested in the health of the nation and is always pleased to make these donations. Every month we give medical items, pharmaceuticals and other medical equipment to the Ministry of Public Health for hospitals and today we are very happy to be able to do this again,” the CEO said.

Dr Cummings expressed gratitude to the donor organisation for the items received on behalf of the Port Mourant Hospital and West Demerara Chest Clinic.
Items donated to Port Mourant Hospital included 13 baby bassinets, two incubators, eight recliner chairs, two infant warmers, four vital signs monitors, and two patients’ chairs, along with a quantity of pallets of assorted medical items.

West Demerara Chest Clinic received eight electronic hospital beds and two vital sign monitors, as well as other assorted medical items.

Dr Cummings, with a sense of pride and appreciation, traced the development of Food for the Poor Inc., noting that it was founded by a Jamaican-born Christian young man by the name of Ferdinand Mahfood, who initially donated to the poor, and to his fellow Jamaicans using profit from his own flourishing business,

Over time, Mahfood wanted to extend this aid to the poor in other countries, which he did, and became famously known as a ‘Beggar for the Poor’, Dr Cummings recalled.
The Food for the Poor Inc. has expanded and now serves in several other countries around the world including Antigua, Belize, Peru, Guatemala, Haiti, Nicaragua and even the United States of America.

Dr Cummings recalled that in Guyana, the organisation was established on June 3, 1991 and has quickly grown to become one of the largest existing non-governmental organisations in the country.

“Some of its more notable achievements in Guyana include the construction of over 3,400 housing units — both on the coastland and in the hinterland of Guyana and has donated in excess of 159 containers of food, medical supplies, educational supplies and sporting equipment,” the minister recollected.

Moreover, the Food for the Poor has established the ‘Angels of Hope’ Programme that attends to approximately 244 children in 12 orphanages, and a wheelchair programme that has distributed over 550 wheelchairs to needy persons.

The organisation has also expanded in other areas, including water and animal husbandry and agricultural projects.
Dr Cummings said the Ministry of Public Health is extremely appreciative of all the hard work and donations made to the residents of Guyana over the years since its establishment in 1991.
The items for West Demerara Regional Hospital have come in rather timely since work is now apace on having the hospital house the TB Step Down Care Unit that will offer superior care to patients who have been diagnosed with tuberculosis.

Being in the final stages of construction, the Tuberculosis Step Down Care Unit is in need of furnishing. The timeliness of the items such as hospital beds and vital signs monitors to the unit from Food for the Poor Inc will allow the health care professionals to offer efficient and effective care to the patients who will be treated at that facility. To this end, she reiterated thanks to the management and staff of Food for the Poor for the donation.