Health Care Agency gets new medical ventilator kit from the TDB |13 August 2021

Dr Louange accepting the donation from Miss Abdul Majid (Photo: Jude Morel)

The Health Care Agency has acquired a new tool in its arsenal in the ongoing fight against the ongoing Covid pandemic in the form of a brand new medical ventilator kit with 28 components from the African Trade and Development Bank (TDB).

The equipment worth US $25,000 was handed over to the chief executive of the agency, Dr Danny Louange by the chief executive of the Seychelles Pension Fund (SPF) Nisreen Abdul Majid during a ceremony yesterday at the Sheikh Khalifa Diagnostic Centre at the Seychelles Hospital.

The donation is part of the bank’s Covid-19 Emergency Response Programme (CERP).

Also present at yesterday’s presentation ceremony was deputy chief executive of the Health Care Agency Kathleen Cecile, chief biomedical engineer Damith Weli, along with representatives of the SPF, including chief operations officer Audrey Nanon, chief pension administrator Jeffrey Moses and head of corporate communication Darrel Bristol.

The TDB CERP programme has been developed in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic to support its member states’ effort to combat and prevent the spread through the procurement of urgently needed healthcare and sanitation supplies.

By joining forces with international partners like SPF, TDB targets mitigating the socio-economic effects of the pandemic in member states.

The SPF became a TDB member state since 2005 and a shareholder in 2014.

On behalf of the bank, Miss Abdul Majid expressed her satisfaction at being able to participate in a social cause in Seychelles and reminded those present that through the TDB / SPF partnership over the years, the TDB has been very active in the financing and co-financing of close to US $130 million in the field of various real estate and tourism projects, namely the Eden View, the Eden Island Development, the Felicité Island Development and the Port Launay Resort.

She added that the partnership was also instrumental in the acquisition of Cable and Wireless Seychelles, which is now fully Seychellois owned.

“While the SPF on its own is limited on sponsorship, we are happy that through this partnership, the SPF has been able to join forces with its partners to contribute towards a common cause,” further added Miss Abdul Majid.

In a statement, the TDB corporate affairs and investor relations executive expressed that the CERP programme spearheads the TDB’s Corporate Social Responsibility programme’s vision to promote the social and economic wellbeing of its stakeholders in the region its serves.

Accepting the donation, Dr Louange said on behalf of the agency he felt very privileged to accept the state-of-the-art equipment which he said can be adjusted to deal with different degrees, or stages of respiratory diseases.

Through the SPF, he thanked the TDB for considering and choosing Seychelles during the pandemic through its CERP, and this, he said, is an indication the bank truly looks at its partners and their needs.

The TDB, formerly the PTA Bank, is a trade and development financial institution operating in eastern and southern Africa.

It is the financial arm of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), although membership is open to non-Comesa states and other institutional shareholders.

It was established on November 6, 1985 under Chapter Nine of the Treaty for the Establishment of the Preferential Trade Area for Eastern and Southern African States, which entered into effect on September 2, 1982 and was subsequently replaced by the Treaty for the Establishment of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa of 1994 that established Comesa.

Roland Duval