B. Braun United Kingdom
A South Yorkshire healthcare company has shown support for two international charities by donating vital medical equipment to treat vulnerable people in the world’s poorest countries.
A South Yorkshire healthcare company has shown support for two international charities by donating vital medical equipment to treat vulnerable people in the world’s poorest countries.
B. Braun Medical Ltd, which has its UK headquarters in Sheffield, has made donations to Facing Africa, which helps to treat children in Africa who suffer from a facial tissue disease, and Mercy Ships UK, providing free surgery and medical care to those who need it most.
The company has donated a nerve stimulator to Facing Africa, which funds teams of facial reconstructive surgeons, anaesthetists, doctors and nurses who carry out two-week surgical missions to Ethiopia to treat children who suffer from noma – a disease leading to tissue destruction of the face, especially the mouth and cheek.
The stimulator will assist the medical professionals in the injection of local anesthetic onto or near nerves for temporary control of pain. It can also be used as a diagnostic tool to identify specific nerves causing pain.
B. Braun also provided the charity with vials of an anesthetic agent and a drug used to prevent nausea after surgery.
Chris Lawrence, chairman of Facing Africa, said: “The World Health Organisation estimates that 140,000 new cases of noma are diagnosed every year, mostly in sub-Sahara Africa. Tragically, 90 per cent of the victims will die within three to four weeks. The remaining ten per cent spend the rest of their lives unable to eat, drink, speak or smile properly and are often rejected by their communities and even their families.
“We are therefore extremely grateful for the support of B. Braun Medical Ltd in helping us to be able to reconstruct the faces of children who suffer from unimaginable pain due to this terrible disease.”
The company has pledged its support to Mercy Ships UK by donating more than 4,000 vials of saline solution, which helps replace lost body fluid and salts.
Mercy Ships UK, formed in 1978, provides care for people in third world countries and carries out procedures including cataracts operations, cleft lip and pallet reconstructions and the removal of facial tumours. The charity has also completed more than 800 community development projects including the construction of schools health clinics, orphanages, water wells and agriculture programmes.
Michael Cullen, sales and marketing manager at B. Braun Medical Ltd, said: “As a global company, we are dedicated to ensuring people have the best possible level of healthcare, which is reflected in the products we manufacture.
“We are delighted to have pledged our support to two fantastic charities, both of which work tirelessly to provide vital healthcare for people who need it most.”
