Press Releases

Help to Haiti earthquake survivors through Telekom Donation Line

Budapest, January 18, 2010 13:00

By dialing 1788 or sending an SMS to Telekom Donation Line, T-Home and T-Mobile customers can help survivors of the earthquake that struck Haiti to receive medical care from Hungarian doctors working in a mobile hospital set up by DEKOM, the Special Medical Rescue Team of the Debrecen University. The board of trustees of the Magyar Telekom Contributes Program adopted the relevant decision through an extraordinary voting session.

Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuerThe DEKOM-Telekom Rescue Team, staffed by medical and technical experts, is planned to depart for the earthquake-hit island in a few days. Their equipment, weighing a total of 250-300 kilograms, includes devices needed for emergency medical aid, such as a mobile ultrasound scanner and instruments used for minor surgery, as well as medication supplies. Members of the medical and rescue team had already provided humanitarian aid and medical treatment in African and Asian countries including Indonesia, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Myanmar.

The head of the rescue team, Dr. András Késmárky, commented on the planned mission: "Our goal is to compensate for the lack of infrastructure, as it was destroyed in the disaster, by setting up a mobile hospital tent, which the local medical staff can continue to use after we leave. Our primary task will be to provide general medical services, with special emphasis on prevention of epidemics. We can go to places that cannot be reached from a central treatment location, so we can bring help to the worst-hit areas and work directly on the front line. This is made possible by the mobility of our team, as the hospital tent can be set up anywhere. Of course, we will be equipped with satellite phones, navigation devices and laptops, so we can even make live satellite contact with the medical center of the Debrecen University and consult about special cases."

When it learnt about the disaster that had hit Haiti, the board of trustees of the Magyar Telekom Contributes Program decided, through an extraordinary voting session, to provide special support to DEKOM, which is currently the beneficiary of the 1788 Telekom Donation Line. This support enables DEKOM to respond to the emergency without delay, and complement the effort of collecting donations by rushing to the earthquake site to help survivors.

DEKOM will spend the amounts collected through Telekom Donation Line during the next two weeks, up to the end of January 2010, to help victims of the Haiti earthquake. In February, they will again collect donations for the originally planned programs including the medical screening and tests for people living on isolated farms in the Debrecen region.

The DEKOM-Telekom Rescue Team finances the procurement of its medical equipment and its travel from its own resources and the donations, so they largely rely on the calls and SMS messages of T-Home and T-Mobile customers, which will be used in full to finance the mission. You can read more about the organization at www.dekom.hu.

As a leading infocommunication provider, Magyar Telekom considers it important to support the efforts of medical organizations and enable the provision of proper medical care for the survivors of the disaster as quickly as possible.

The Telekom Donation Line, also advertised by the slogan "1788 - the humanitarian calling number", which has been in operation for seven years, can be accessed from Magyar Telekom's fixed-line and mobile networks. The fee payable for the call or the SMS is HUF 100, which amount is free of VAT (with the exception of calls initiated from Domino pre-paid cards). The total amount of the fees collected from the calls received in January and February will be credited to the Special Medical Rescue Team Association of the Debrecen University, and be used to finance its humanitarian and charitable efforts.

About Magyar Telekom
Magyar Telekom is Hungary's biggest provider of telecom services. It provides a full range of telecommunications and infocommunications (ICT) services including fixed line and mobile telephony, data transmission and non-voice as well as IT and systems integration services. The business activities of Magyar Telekom are managed by two business units: Consumer services (the home-related services brand T-Home and the mobile communications brand T-Mobile) and Business services (T-Systems brand). Magyar Telekom is the majority owner of Makedonski Telekom, the leading fixed line and mobile operator in Macedonia and it holds a majority stake in Crnogorski Telekom, the leading telecommunications operator in Montenegro. Magyar Telekom's majority shareholder (59.21%) is MagyarCom Holding GmbH, fully owned by Deutsche Telekom AG.
For further information visit www.telekom.hu.