Northwest Medical Teams and Boeing are partnering to send life-saving medical supplies to Uzbekistan this holiday season. More than US$750,000 in surgical instruments, antibiotics and other medicines left Seattle?s Boeing Field this Thursday, 16 December, for Tashkent, the capital of this former Soviet Republic. The medical goods traveled on a new Boeing 767 jet and arrived in Tashkent on 17 December.

The donated supplies will be distributed by Uzbekistan?s Ministry of Health and Northwest Medical Teams local office. They will help dispense the critically needed supplies to hospitals, clinics and pharmacies across the country, one of the poorest regions in Southeast Asia.

Northwest Medical Teams has sent volunteers to Uzbekistan since 1997. Earlier this year, emergency medical services (EMS) volunteers and staff from Northwest Medical Teams helped launch the first-ever emergency room in the country. The three-year project includes EMS training for Uzbek health workers and equipping and remodeling an ER facility. The partnership has helped reduce deaths caused by accidents and disability rates in the country by improving response times and medical skills.

Located just north of Afghanistan, Uzbekistan became an independent country 13 years ago, but still faces huge challenges in building strong social programs for its people.

?Medicines and supplies are often not available in Uzbekistan,? Dick Frederick, executive director of Northwest Medical Teams Washington office, said. ?As a result many families and children suffer needlessly. We appreciate Boeing?s generosity in working with us to bring badly needed help to the Uzbek people.?

Northwest Medical Teams and Boeing have collaborated for years to send medical supplies to some of the most demanding disaster situations of the last decade.