The American Medical Resources Foundation
The American Medical Resources Foundation
donates refurbished, but functional medical equipment to hospitals
serving the poor worldwide. AMRF also develops and provides training programs for medical equipment repair
technicians and hospital managers responsible for maintenance, repair and calibration of medical equipment.
The American Medical Resources Foundation (AMRF) is dedicated to improving the health care in needy communities in countries worldwide by donating medical equipment and services to hospitals and clinics serving these communities. AMRF donates refurbished, but fully functional medical equipment in accordance with requests from these hospitals and clinics. This equipment is donated to AMRF by over 300 hospitals and industries in the US and by many private physicians and dentists. AMRF refurbishes the equipment it receives to assure that it meets full specification operating performance. The equipment AMRF donates can be supported by readily available spare parts procured either directly from the manufacturer or through AMRF. If the equipment requested is not available by donation, AMRF can generally purchase the equipment for the hospitals and clinics at lower prices than advertised. In the past 18 years AMRF has donated medical equipment worth over $200 million (if valued new at todayıs prices) to 190 hospitals in 90 countries in Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Asia.
AMRF offers the services of a corps of qualified biomedical engineers and
technicians to teach maintenance procedures and assist in setting
up maintenance and calibration facilities at the recipient institutions.
AMRF also provides medical equipment maintenance and repair support by
telephone, fax, email, and if necessary, by direct visit. AMRF has also
developed medical equipment technician training programs to help recipient
hospitals to become self-sufficient.
AMRF is an independent
non-profit, tax-exempt charity, for the most part staffed by volunteers.
AMRF was incorporated in 1988 in the Attorney Generalıs Office in the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts and is a tax-exempt organization under section
501(c)(3) of the U. S. Government Internal Revenue Code. It is registered
with the U.S. Agency for International Development (US A.I.D., Number A
1781).
AMRF donates the medical equipment free making only a small
charge for its cost to collect, test, refurbish if necessary, warehouse and
ship the medical equipment. AMRF can also procure at advantageous prices
items of medical equipment, which cannot be found on donation for which
it charges the acquisition cost. Sponsors are found to pay these costs
for equipment donations. Often the sponsors are the hospitals themselves or
the charitable organizations which support the hospitals. Other frequent
US sponsors for AMRF donations of medical equipment are Rotary and
Kiwanis Clubs, churches, professional organizations, and private
individuals.
Donated equipment already shipped includes virtually
everything that is used by a hospital including beds, patient transports,
patient monitors, x-ray, infant warmers, infant transporters, patient
handling equipment, pulmonary, cardiac, ultrasonic diagnostic, examination
room, dental, office, laboratory, operating room, emergency and other diverse
equipment for general and specialized use in prenatal, natal, pediatric and
adult departments. Certain types of non-perishable supplies and other items
such as surgical gloves, OR setups, catheters and surgical instruments are
also donated. AMRF also procures and ships ambulances and facility
type equipment such as kitchen, electric power and laundry equipment.
Normally, our shipments are by 40 ft or 20 ft ocean transport containers to
meet the requests of the applicant hospitals.
Specifically, AMRF offers a wide range of services:
- Expert consulting for planning and procurement of medical equipment, water, waste and power systems.
- Donation of most hospital equipment and furnishings.
- Procurement of special medical and test equipment at lower-than-advertised prices
- Procurement and installation of special facilities such as gamma cameras, cardiac care and cath labs.
- Providing professional technical assistance to improve the hospitalıs equipment maintenance and solving technical problems. Training maintenance personnel in the use of modern methods of hospital equipment maintenance, repair and calibration.
As indicated above we donate the equipment and supplies free and charge only for our costs in collecting, refurbishing, warehousing and shipping. A typical 40x8x8 container of equipment donated will consist of equipment valued at $400,000 - $600,000 (if valued as new at todayıs prices). We request a donation plus ocean freight (usually around $3000 - $5000 depending upon destination) to cover our costs for preparing each 40 ft container. We will advise as to the donation required. We also recommend sending one of our biomedical/clinical engineers to assist the recipient hospital in training in the initial use and maintenance of the equipment as well as to solve any technical problems that might arise after the equipment is received. We request a donation covering the labor and transportation cost of the engineer for this service. The recipient usually provides the board, room and local transportation for the engineer.
On occasion biomedical engineers and technicians from the recipient hospital or its country have served as interns in our Brockton facility, receiving training and experience in medical equipment test, use and maintenance.