Release Date: 10/18/2006
Release Number: 06-01-01PS

KABUL , Afghanistan — Shriners Hospital for Children in Philadelphia recently teamed with U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan to donate and transport much-needed orthopedic devices to the Afghanistan National Military Hospital in Kabul.

In a ceremony Oct. 18 with U.S. military medical personnel and their Afghan counterparts, Maj. Gen. Yaftali Ahmad Ia, Afghanistan ’s Surgeon General, gratefully accepted the gift on behalf of the Afghan government and people.

The supplies donated consist of specially made equipment called “fixators,” devices that provide rigid immobilization of a fractured bone by means of rods attached to pins that are placed in or through the bone.

With Afghanistan security forces fighting extremists and with Afghan people, including many children, falling victim to land mines after more than 30 years of warfare here, Afghan officials said the devices are greatly needed.

Dr. Yaftali said medical supplies are desperately needed in Afghanistan , but this donation is a great start in the right direction.

Afghanistan ’s military medical community is continuing to evolve and grow and the devices will help the Afghan medical corps continue its development, said Lt. Col. Bob Tallman, a U.S. spokesman in Afghanistan.

“Three years ago we started with nothing, today, slowly, Afghanistan is recovering and standing strong because of our friends,” Yaftali told his U.S. colleagues. “My friends at the Shriners Hospital are very generous with this donation. The orthopedic surgical supplies will benefit many people including children in my country.”

The equipment also has great training value, said members of the Combined Security Transition Command -- Afghanistan, the U.S.-led organization that is helping to train and mentor Afghanistan's growing national security forces.

Maj. Timothy Marean, a U.S. Army physician and medical mentor to the Afghan National Army, said the new equipment is a gigantic leap forward in the level of care the ANA will be able to provide to its patients.

“The new equipment allows us to train and teach our Afghan counterparts skills equal to those found in the United States ,” said Marean. “The ANA, Afghan National Police and their families use this facility and this donation is allowing the doctors here to make great strides in the care given.”

The donation was carefully planned earlier this summer after Shriners' heard of the critical demand for fixator devices. Shriners is considered one of the foremost pediatric orthopedic and spinal cord injury hospitals in the world.

Dr. Raymond Haslam, a member of the Board of Governors of Shriners' Hospital, assisted in the transportation of medical equipment to the Defense Distribution Depot in Susquehanna, Pa. Shriners also worked closely with Col. (Dr.) Donald Thompson, the command surgeon of CSTC-A, to get the supplies to Afghanistan.

"I believe that humanitarian efforts are very important," said Dr. James McCarthy, Shriners’ Assistant Chief of Staff.

Shriners mission is to provide care at no cost for children with orthopedic conditions and our philanthropic nature extends to our colleagues overseas."

Since 1926, Shriners Hospitals for Children, Philadelphia has been providing expert medical care at no cost to children between the ages of birth to 18 years of age, with orthopedic conditions resulting from injuries and diseases of the bones, joints, and muscles as well as spinal cord injuries.

For more information, contact Kabul-Presscenter@cfc-a.centcom-DOT-mil.