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KABUL, Afghanistan - NATO's Resolute Support transferred about $150,000 in pharmaceuticals to the Afghan National Police. The medicine was left behind when a NATO medical facility at the Kabul airport closed at the end of the ISAF mission in December 2014. The pharmaceuticals will be put to use in treating ANP battlefield casualties throughout Afghanistan.
Medical staff from the NATO-led mission Resolute Support coordinated the transfer of more than $150,000 in surplus pharmaceuticals to the Afghan National Police recently. The drugs were left over from a NATO Role 3 Multinational Medical Unit at Hamid Karzai International Airport that closed in December 2014 with the end of the International Security Assistance Forces mission.
Members of the 182nd Area Support Medical Company from the HKIA Role 2 medical facility found the pharmaceuticals in the pharmacy storage area and notified their higher command at Bagram Air Field. Staff from the 3D Multifunctional Medical Battalion then began doing the research and coordination with Resolute Support Headquarters to get the medicine into the hands of Afghan medical personnel supporting the ANP who are battling insurgents around the country. Working with the RS Legal Advisers and other agencies, the medical advisory team got the green light to proceed with the transfer.
Lt. Col. Helmut Kreppel, of the German army and medical adviser with Headquarters RS, helped clear the way for the drug turn-over.
“I have worked for three weeks on this program, and I’m very happy I could take part in completing the transfer,” Kreppel said. “It’s definitely a big step for the ANP because they desperately need high quality pharmaceuticals.”
The 3D MMB personnel inspected and inventoried hundreds of individual medicines that had been stored in a warehouse, originally designated for the Role 3 MMU that closed last December. The list contained all types of medications, from common pain relievers to powerful antibiotics. Then the NATO team contacted the ANP Medical Depot in Kabul who identified hundreds of medicines from the list that they needed and set a date for the transfer.
“It took a lot of coordinated effort of several NATO countries,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Evyn Helber, RS medical adviser. “They received over 160 line items of medications which is more than 3,000 individual items which will definitely help support [the ANP] during the fighting season.”
A team from the ANP Medical Depot met the command team from HKIA Role 2, members of the 3D MMB and RS medical advisory team at the NATO compound at the Kabul airport to finalize the transfer. Together they went over the inventory lists and signed the transfer documents. A forklift loaded two large cartons of pharmaceuticals into a truck for delivery to the Kabul depot to be entered into the ANP medical supply system and stored in a warehouse for eventual distribution to clinics and hospitals nearest the fighting.
“The medicine that we get here is going to be used to treat soldiers who are wounded in campaigns all around Afghanistan,” Dr. Safi Furahman, commander, ANP National Medical Depot. “We are thankful for the assistance in receiving this medicine and know it will go to good use.”
For Kreppel, the transfer is a personal victory.
“I am very proud to be part of this project,” Keppler said. “I volunteered to come to this country to help improve medical care and the access to good quality pharmaceuticals.”
| Date Taken: | 07.14.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 07.15.2015 05:25 |
| Story ID: | 170057 |
| Location: | KABUL, AF |
| Hometown: | ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Hometown: | SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, US |
| Hometown: | WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, US |
| Web Views: | 403 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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