The Incubaror, first attempt.

During my 2004 hospital visit,I was shown round the Maternity section old broken down equipment was all they had. Their one Incubator was more twenty years old and broken, no parts to try and repair it were available,and the hospital had no money to buy another one. How could their Maternity section function properly without an Incubator to help new born babies to survive. I made up my mind to try and get them an Incubator,but how to begin? Back home in Scotland I found out the cost of a new Incubator was too expensive. I asked around various hospitals about the possibility of them donating an Incubator that was being replaced by a new one. Unfortunatly none of them were able to help despite me following the various tel.Nos. I was given when initially calling to be told: "this office does not deal with obsolete Incubators" "You could try this number" "the person you want does not work in this Dept" and so on. One day as I carried on with my quest for an Incubator I was told by a hospital stores manager that due to changes in the legal system any unwanted, obsolete or surplus medical rquipment from hospitals could not be disposed to a private individual.The reason being that in event of an accident involving such equipment, the hospital authorities could be sued for damages. However he told me that such equipmant was collected by registerd disposal companies,one of such was a
company called G.B.Medical in England.
I got in touch with this company and they told me that they had two refurbished Incubators I was happy to be told this good news after so long. The cheapest one was £500 and I was able to buy it. However the cost of sending this Incubator to Ukraine by TNT International carriers was £300 a total cost of £800. This would use up all the money I had left,but I knew it was a life saver and I arranged transport using GB
Medical to contact TNT ( one of the carriers their company used )to finalise the deal. Before I set off for Ukraine in Nov.2005 I contacted GB Medical and TNT to make
sure that the Incubator would be delivered to my friend's address in Kiev when I would be there .My friend would arrange with the hospital to have the Incubator taken from Kiev to Malin. In Nov. 2005 I awaited the Incubator delivery,but it never arrived. We phoned the TNT complex in Kiev a modern State of the Art warehouse to be told that the Ukrainian Customs wanted £320 to release the Incubator, I was stunned by this news, unbelievable how could this be. The following day we went to see the Customs Officers at the TNT Depot my friend pleaded with them on my behalf to no avail, he was asked by the Ukrainian Customs Officer to submit a written appeal. This letter was translated for me,and I signed it, submitting my passport details. We then left and after a couple of days,were told, that I must pay £320 no mercy, no money no Incubator for Ukrainian babies. Everone including the Media thought it was a bad situation but nobody could help. It was time for me to return to Scotland and my work. Maantime my friend in Kiev continued to try and get the authorities to free the Incubator.While back home I also tried to get answers as to why the Incubator was being held. There was also according to TNT a possible storage charge. Then in January 2005 TNT sent the Incubator back to GB Medical with a bill of £140
payable by me, thankfully GB Medical paid this for me as a donation. After all my work,my Ukrainian friend's work, many phone calls, personal visits to Ukrainian Government Depts. £800 donated by kind people the Incubator was back at source. What to do now. I have to try again, and succeed, but how. My next blog will second attempt.