News
Unions launch a ‘ship for Cuba’
Ambulances, medical equipment and hundreds of tons of vitamins and foodstuffs have been donated by British hospitals and health workers, as part of a campaign to send a ship-load of humanitarian aid to Cuban hospitals.
The cargo has been gathered by the Salud! (good health) campaign, set up by British trade unions late last year in the wake of damage done to the Cuban economy by the El Ninő weather phenomenon and the intensifying US economic blockade.
The campaign, which was launched jointly with the International Rescue Corps, involves key unions including the TGWU, GMB and Unison.
As healthmatters went to press, goods donated included 20 ambulances, 40 buses to transport health workers, hundreds of computers for hospitals and clinics, and X-ray and gamma-ray equipment.
Boxes of vitamins and tons of powdered food, including baby milk and flour, had also been gathered as part of the cargo. Where it was not possible to make direct donations of goods, individuals and organisations donated money for the purchase of antibiotics, water-purifying machines and paracetamols.
At its launch, the Salud! campaign set out to collect 700 tons of food and medical supplies in addition to vehicles, and the organisers were still hopeful of achieving that before its scheduled sailing date in early-mid June.
Salud! Tel: 0191 245 0818. Fax: 0191 215 1478.
E-mail: enquiries@salud.org.uk
Frank ChalmersAn emergency appeal has been launched by Medica, a women’s therapy centre in Bosnia-Hercegovina, for funds to provide support for women traumatised by rape and other acts of terror in Kosovo.
Medica is currently training a team of professional Albanian/Kosovan women in appropriate medical and psycho-social responses. Funding will help to establish six tent clinics in refugee camps in Albania and equip a mobile clinic that will operate in other areas of Albania.
Donations to: Account ‘Medica’, No 0562837, Lloyd’s Bank, London NW5 2LP. Sort code 30-94-66. Further information from: Cynthia Cockburn. Tel: 0171 482 5670.
• The Vatican has expressed opposition to UN aid workers distributing ‘morning after’ pills to victims of rape in Kosovo. A spokesperson described the emergency contraception pill as an ‘abortion technique’.
