Australian medical worker: 'Inappropriate' tsunami aid unused

An Australian medical specialist says a large amount of donated supplies to the tsunami-affected region of Banda Aceh in Indonesia will never be used. Jan Rice, who specialises in wound care, travelled to the area with AusAID, the Australian government aid program, three months after the disaster, to help staff at the general hospital. Ms Rice says some of the goods donated were not used because drugs were out-of-date or supplies such as breast implants were inappropriate for the devastated area.

She says the hospital was overwhelmed by the volume of donated medical supplies which it sent to a nearby storeroom. "So ceiling to floor of donated boxes in various states of disrepair because the humidity's 120 per cent and cardboard obviously softens," she said. "So if there were heavy items in the box, then the bottom would've fallen out of it and then the box would've been carried into an area and then just dumped in there."


(Source: Radio Autralia via ABC)