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Substandard US medical donations rejected
By Cao Deshang (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-12-10 06:34
China will return three containers of substandard medical supplies donated by
US charity organizations, which included stained bedding, used surgical clothes
and expired equipment.
The supplies entered China via Tianjin, and were sent to Anhui and Hebei
provinces and Beijing. One container arrived in Beijing on November 4, and the
contents were discovered by customs officials, Beijing Youth Daily reported.
Some of the medical equipment had a use-by date of 1998, while others items
were found to have passed their probationary period after three checks in
November by the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and
Quarantine and Beijing Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau. Dirty quilts
and clothes were also found, the paper said.
Meanwhile, Anhui Provincial Charity Association disclosed that donations they
received were also shoddy, after inspections from November 9 to 11.
The shipment to Anhui weighed 6.9 tons, the newspaper said. It did not give
the size of the other two shipments, but an official with the Beijing Charity
Federation told China Daily it received more than 3 tons of donations from its
higher organization, the All-China Federation of Charity.
He said he did not know anything about the donor. "We sealed the donations as
soon as the quarantine department found problems," he said on the condition of
anonymity.
A press official surnamed Shao from the national charity federation said it
frequently received donations from around the world, but it was the first time
it had received medical waste.
The Associated Press on Friday quoted an anonymous official from the
federation as saying the donations came from The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah. The organization was not available
for comment.
Expired medical equipment and used injectors were also found in Wuhan,
Central China's Hubei Province, last month.
There were 138,000 items in 548 boxes, worth US$29,000.
Agencies contributed to the story
(China Daily 12/10/2005 page1)
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