KABUL, Afghanistan – A shipment of much-needed medical equipment donated by Clear Path has arrived at an emergency surgical center for civilian war and landmine victims in Afghanistan.

The shipment of diagnostic and surgical instruments, wheelchairs, gurneys, crutches and other trauma-care hospital equipment was a collaborative effort between CPI and the Mobility Project based near Bremerton, Wash.

The Mobility Project funded the shipment of a 40-foot container, which was about half filled with equipment and supplies donated by Clear Path through its medical support program for mine-affected countries.

Through its medical donations program for hospitals in mine-affected countries, Clear Path has sent 26 containers to medical facilities in Vietnam, Cambodia, Jordan, Iraq, Peru, Brazil, Colombia and the Philippines during the past three years.

The medical center in Kabul is run by Emergency, a nonprofit organization based in Milan, Italy, that operates a network of surgical and rehabilitation centers in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Iraq, Palestine, Algeria and Sierra Leone.

The hospital, providing trauma care to patients in a country with one of the highest-per-capita number of landmine accident survivors, was established in 2001. It has 91 beds and handles nearly 6,000 surgical procedures per year.

“It was like Christmas,” said Lisa Murphy, who witnessed the shipment’s arrival for the Mobility Project. “They were crying tears with joy because they needed these items so badly.”

The Mobility Project, which refurbishes wheelchairs and provides them to persons with disabilities in the developing world, has a full-time office in Kabul. Clear Path and the Mobility Project hope to collaborate on additional shipments to Afghanistan.