Nars receives R60,000 from LDS MNAs |02 May 2020
Mr Ramkalawan hands over the cheque to Ms Bistoquet (Photo: Jude Morel)
Members of the National Assembly representing the Linyon Demokratik Seselwa on Thursday donated R60,000 to the Nurses Association of Seychelles.
All 17 members of the opposition party in the National Assembly dipped in their own pockets to contribute 10% of their March salaries to help in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was the leader of the opposition Wavel Ramkalawan who handed the cheque over to Nurses Association of Seychelles (Nars) president Rosie Bistoquet during a brief ceremony attended by deputy Speaker Ahmed Afif, opposition chief whip Jean-François Ferrari and several Nars members.
This donation to Nars is the first of several that are to be undertaken by Linyon Demokratik Seselwa (LDS) MNAs to help the country’s frontliners and Mr Ramkalawan confirmed that the second cheque will be going towards the Seychelles Red Cross Society.
Red Cross volunteers have and continue to play a supportive role during this pandemic especially in regards to contact tracing exercises.
In March, Mr Ramkalawan had made a request for top government officials, including the president, ministers and MNAs from both parties in the National Assembly, to contribute parts of their salary to the COVID-19 efforts.
“We took the decision to give 10% of our salary to different organisations and this is the first while the second donation from our April salary will go to the Red Cross. We have yet to decide which organisation will benefit from our salary in May,” Mr Ramkalawan said.
He further thanked the nurses and health workers who are risking their lives during this pandemic.
On her part, Mrs Bistoquet noted that the donation would go a long way in helping Nars’ initiatives to support nurses in Seychelles.
“We have a lot of nurses who went into quarantine because they were exposed to the virus, a lot are working on the frontline and a significant number of nurses have had to take additional shifts to cover for those who are engaged in the fight against COVID-19. We are looking for ways to help them better deal with the pressure,” she said.
“Nars wants to meet up with them so they can talk about their experiences and, perhaps later we can have a retreat for nurses who have experienced burn out.”