ARMM donation mostly outmoded, scrap equipment?

COTABATO CITY — The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) reportedly got mostly outmoded and scrap medical equipment from a big shipment which the Saudi Arabian government donated last June to ARMM Gov. Nur Misuari.

Worse, the ARMM’s Department of Health will reportedly still need an expert to determine if the equipment can still be used by the 25 public hospitals in the region’s four provinces — Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

Even so, Dr. Jainal Hamad, the ARMM’s health secretary, is optimistic that some of the equipment are still functional and could be still used in the region’s district and provincial hospitals.

Hamad estimated the donated medical equipment to be worth about P52 million.

The shipment, which arrived here last week, consists of diagnostic instrument, ultrasound machines, respirators, blood analyzing devices and power-generating sets.

Most of the rusty power-generating sets are powered by stationary engines made in European countries and not designed for Asian markets.

Hamad said his office has asked the help of a certain Engineer Aquino, a hospital maintenance specialist of the DOH in Davao City, to check if the donated medical equipment are still serviceable.

Hamad said even if they can restore some of the donated medical equipment, they will still need a considerable amount of money to train hospital personnel in operating them.

"We need to train some of our personnel to operate these equipment. They also need to learn how to interpret the results of the testings these equipment can perform," he added.

Sources from the governor’s office said the national government might end up spending more money in repairing the equipment instead of releasing a capital outlay to the DOH-ARMM to procure new supplies.

"We thought these equipment were new and can be used as soon as they get here. Gov. Misuari bragged so much about these equipment and it seems what we got were mostly scrap," said a technical staffer in the governor’s office.

The ARMM’s Bureau of Public Information said it knew nothing about the condition of the donated medical equipment.