Med Students Give Gift To Nicaraguan Hospital

A group of Harvard Medical School students Thursday donated 14 new stethoscopes to medical students and interns in Nicaragua in response to that country's shortage of medical supplies, organizers of the move said.

The group presented the stethoscopes--worth about $600--to Mary Eileen Dame, chief of medicine at Grenada Hospital in Nicaragua, after her speech at the medical school Thursday.

Dame, a memebr o the Religious Sisters of NOtre Dame, spoke about her experiences as an American doctor in Nicaragua.

The Harvard Health and Human Rights Commuted collected the stethoscopes from members of the second year class at the Medical School as "a symbolic gesture that will hopefully bring attention to what's going on in Nicaragua," said Gary A. Herman, a member of the group.

"I think a lot of people feel had that our government has played a role in interfering with health care to outlying villages in Nicaragua and helped cause a server shortage of medical equipment," said Herman.

Committee members Lawrence J. Roman '78 called the stethoscopes "a gift of peace and friendship."

Strides in Health Care

"The stethoscopes are a gesture of our respect for the real strides Nicargus has made in public health and particularly rural outreach," said Camilla D. Potter, who helped organize the event:

To reduce the shortage the group asked second year Medical School students to donate the stethoscopes the class receives free each year from medical suppliers Eli Lily & Company.

"Many students go and buy higher quality stethoscopes anyway, so we solicited those people to give us the stethoscopes they had been given," said Potter.

Herman admitted that the group had hoped more students would donate their stethoscopes, but explained "Many students use the stethoscopes and some students felt that by donating to Nicaragua they might be jeapordizing future classes' ability to get free stethoscopes."

"I can't believes that even if we learned that the entire student body gave their stethoscopes to Nicaragua we wouldn't go and offer stethoscopes to next year's class," said William F. Pillow, a spokesman for Eli Lily & Company.

Textbooks and Talks

The Health and Human Rights Committee, made up of 10 medical school students, has previously sent a shipment of medical textbooks to Nicaragus and sponsored a number of talks on Central America, according to Potter.

The group is now circulating a petition demanding the release of Gustavo Sequeira, assistant dean of the Medical School of Nicaragua, who acted as a four guide last summer for three Harvard medical students. Sequeira was kidnapped in January by the U.S.-booked contras currently fighting the Sandinistan government, Ronan said.