School of Medicine donates texts to hospital in Sudan

School of Medicine clinical faculty and staff recently collected more than 1,500 medical textbooks to be donated to the Lui Hospital in Sudan, located in the war zone of southern Sudan. The staff who work there rely on outdated medical references, some dating back to the 1930s.

Of those collected, nearly 600 of the most appropriate books were packed into 46 boxes and driven to Jefferson City, Mo., headquarters of the Missouri Hospital Association, which had made the request earlier this year. Books not used for the Lui Hospital will be sent to other charities and hospitals.

Jim Crane, M.D., chief executive of the Faculty Practice Plan said the response was far greater than expected.

"We want to thank all those who contributed very usable medical literature and thank the facilities staff who transported hundreds of pounds of books to be sorted," Crane said. "Special appreciation goes to Ivory Reed, director of facilities administration, and Leo Lewis, administrative assistant, who drove the loaded truck on a Saturday to Jefferson City."