French NGO donates US $2,500 to Bangui hospitals

French NGO Volonte d'Aide aux Demunis donated on Tuesday drugs worth 1.5 million francs CFA (US $2,696) to the Central African Republic Ministry of Health, state-owned Television Centrafricaine reported. The drugs will be supplied to three hospitals in Bangui, the capital. Supplies to hospitals nationwide were badly disrupted during the October 2002 to March 2003 rebellion that brought Francois Bozize to power. Medical stores in the north were stripped of their contents, while those in the east ran out of drugs. Intervention to redress the shortages has also come from organisations such as the European Commission Humanitarian Office and the European Development Fund which are providing €1.78 million (about $2 million) to nine of the country's 16 provinces affected by the fighting.