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Afghanistan

Canadian medicine goes to Afghanistan

Mississauga, ON (May 10, 2007) - Health Partners International of Canada (HPIC), a medical aid organization with a distribution centre in Mississauga, is sending its first of several shipments of Canadian medicine to a hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan.

HPIC will be providing some $3 million of medical aid to the CURE International Hospital over the next two years. This first installment will be airlifted from the Pearson airport next week.

The medicines and medical supplies have all been donated by Canadian health-care companies from the research-based, generic and medical supply sectors.

The Bridgeway Foundation of Cambridge, Ontario is providing funding for HPIC's medical aid project in Kabul.

HPIC President John Kelsall said that Canadians need to be deliverers of hope in this war-torn nation. "The people of Afghanistan deserve our admiration and assistance. Too many mothers are dying in childbirth, too many fathers have been injured, too many children are suffering needlessly. We believe that Canadians can do something to help, and now with this project, we are."

CURE Kabul operates a 115-bed hospital and maternal health clinic, including the only Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in the country. The hospital also specializes in orthopedic services, serving a population seriously injured by war and landmines. The principal obstacle to treatment and services is the availability of medicine, hospital supplies and equipment.

"Our patients cannot afford to buy medicine and what is available is often of questionable quality," said Dr. C. Scott Harrison, CEO and Founder of CURE International. "We are confident that this new partnership with HPIC will help save the lives of mothers and children, the main clientele of our hospital."

Omar Samad, Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada, also expressed his appreciation for the initiative. "On behalf of millions of Afghan women, children and men, and my government, I want to thank all of you for this and all other assistance that you have provided. The humanitarian help that you send today across oceans and continents will be received with gratitude and heartfelt thanks, and will make a real difference."

For more information contact:

Margaret Buchanan
Manager, Media Relations
Toll-free: 1-800-627-1787
Tel: 514-695-0007, ext. 117
email: mbuchanan@hpicanada.ca