PROJECT REPORT – Medical Aid for Oceania and Worldwide (MAFO) RAWCS Project 48/2012-13
Since it first began operation in 2010 as Beds for Fiji, MAFO has gradually added value to the scope of the project. First came the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Ramsay Health Care in 2012 and then the gradual expansion not only of the range of equipment supplied, but also the diversity of destinations. As well as beds MAFO now supplies anaesthetic and x-ray machines, ECG monitors, defibrillators, operating theatre equipment and a full range of hospital consumables. We serve hospitals and other medical facilities in numerous Pacific islands, the Asia-Pacific region and the African continent. Along the way suppliers other than Ramsay heard about the project and we now receive donated equipment from a variety of medical and pharmaceutical sources.
Today MAFO’s reputation as a source of shipping and logistical expertise has spread to other clubs, which sometimes “hire” us to organise container shipping on their behalf. One such club is the Rotary Club of West Wollongong, for which MAFO has recently delivered a 20ft container for packing by the Club with mixed medical and educational supplies, as well as 170 litres of paint for the refurbishment of medical clinics in the Cook Islands.
In its early days seven years ago, MAFO conveniently shipped its beds for Fiji out of Port Kembla. Unfortunately the shipping lines serving the Pacific Islands rarely use that port these days so we have to incur the additional cost of having the packed container delivered to Port Botany. We then arrange for the container to be weighed – a new maritime law introduced last July – and prepare the necessary shipping documents. The container is now en route to Auckland where it will be transhipped to another vessel for delivery to Rarotonga (pictured below) in early May.
Barry Barford
Deputy Project Manager