press releases from MedicalBridge
04.04.2022
"MedicalBridge" to Ukraine
The medicalbridge initiative organizes a medical bridge for need-based care
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Reports from Ukraine about the shelling of military and civilian facilities, including hospitals, have not ceased for weeks. The overall situation is increasingly deteriorating, and it is becoming more and more difficult to provide for the population. This also applies to medicine: diabetics, epileptics and cancer patients are no longer receiving medication, oxygen is in short supply, and there is a shortage of surgical instruments and other tools for important operations. The recording of demand, the reconciliation of inventories from different suppliers and supply logistics continue to face major challenges.
A German initiative is now starting with an Internet platform that is intended to ensure that what is really needed on site also arrives. MedicalBridge.eu is intended to guarantee needs-based functioning logistics. "We are a non-profit initiative and offer a one-stop shop for verified hospitals, healthcare facilities and official bodies in Ukraine," says Berlin-based physician Dr. Henning Thole. "They can use our online platform or email to directly order or report their needs for medicines and medical equipment to us. "
MedicalBridge is also a service for manufacturers and aid organizations. "Manufacturers and aid organizations can make what they donate or procure visible on the platform through us. This provides transparency about need and supply. What is not available," says Thole, "can be procured by companies and aid organizations specifically from donations, for example. "For government agencies in Ukraine, Germany and the EU, this also makes it possible to control the supply chain for medical aid deliveries.
MedicalBridge deliberately works independently of the hospitals' systems. "Our platform works even if the hospital is damaged or the IT there has failed," says Thole. "We are compatible for all hospitals without them having to program interfaces or install software first. The system is freely available and accessible. We offer a medical ordering system for the smartphone in your pocket. "
MedicalBridge organizes the logistics together with a pharmaceutical wholesaler specialized for this purpose and the profile logisticians of DB Cargo and its rail bridge. Other companies, distributors and logistics providers can be connected. In order to be able to supply not only medicines and medical products but also medical equipment on a demand-oriented basis, talks are already taking place with other experienced partners.
The founder of Zukunft Krankenhaus-Einkauf (ZUKE), Stefan Krojer emphasizes that the initiative is intended to be sustainable in every way: "We avoid unnecessary programming effort as well as superfluous or incorrect deliveries and limit ourselves to what is really necessary."
The project is therefore also supported by the German Climate Change and Health Alliance (KLUG), from whose network some of the initiative's specialists come. Thole and Krojer: "We are convinced that the platform will remain important after the war in reconstruction, as well as in other disaster situations. "
MedicalBridge will be launched on April 4. The platform is cloud-based, multilingual and privacy-compliant, "connectable for all companies and organizations that want to help," emphasizes Henning Thole. "We invite all those willing to help from the pharmaceutical and medical device industry as well as aid organizations to participate and thus make the platform a strong tool for emergency medical care. "
Contact & Information about medicalbridge.eu
Henning Thole, MD, thole@medicalbridge.eu, +49 30 557 10710
Stefan Krojer, krojer@medicalbridge.eu, +49 30 557 107113
Background, cooperation partners & supporters of MedicalBridge.eu
The idea for the initiative came from the physician Dr. med. Henning Thole and was jointly developed by him and pharmacist Gabriele Renner, pervormance international GmbH, both members of KLUG. The central platform was provided by the German plentysystems AG from Kassel. The two implemented the project with Stefan Krojer of ZUKE (Zukunft Krankenhaus-Einkauf), and eCommerce specialists Sabine Stein and Anja Funk of pervormance international GmbH and afimage eCommerce Consulting programmed and customized the platform. They organize the data acceptance and integration and develop the user interface and the management of the platform adapted for MedicalBridge. IT specialist Dr. Nikodem Szpak and physician Dr. Ewa Cionek-Szpak assist with data entry, market research and translations, the latter with additional support from Palmer Hargreaves. Staff from the Department of Healthcare Logistics at Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences support data entry and logistics processing. The MedicalBridge team also has access to a network of healthcare procurement and logistics specialists, allowing the administrative office to scale. The systems for communication are provided by the mail provider mailbox.org, Sipgate and ebuero AG, and Wirtschaft für Menschen e.V. provides administrative support for the initiative.