COVID-19 - Health department gets more medical supplies |17 April 2020
The symbolic handover ceremony (Photo: Jude Morel)
The department of health has received further donations of medical supplies to help reinforce its capacity to contain the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the country.
These latest donations come from Jack Ma Foundation based in China and from the World Health Organisation (WHO) regional office, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The two consignments of medical supplies arrived early Wednesday morning onboard a second cargo flight of Ethiopian Airlines to Seychelles.
A symbolic handover of the supplies was held yesterday morning at the Sheikh Khalifa Diagnostic Centre. The ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the Seychelles, Guo Wei, was the first to officially handover the second batch of medical supplies donated to Seychelles by the Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, to the secretary of state for health, Marie-Pierre Lloyd.
Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador Wei said it was a great honour for her to present the medical supplies on behalf of the Jack Ma Foundation to the government of Seychelles in this time of difficulties we are facing with the COVID-19 pandemic. The medical consignment consists of top priority medical and laboratory supplies.
Ambassador Wei stated that the donation of medical supplies in the fight against the COVID-19 to the people of Seychelles, especially to those working in the frontline against the virus, is a gesture of solidarity between a Chinese enterprise and the people of China.
She noted that faced with this COVID-19 pandemic, the world should cooperate with one another through exchanging of experiences and information to overcome the difficulties caused by the pandemic.
She further noted that it is for this reason that her country, after undergoing harsh COVID-19 experiences, is seeking to help Seychelles to overcome the difficulties it is facing in regards to the pandemic.
She said that the People’s Republic of China will soon be sending additional medical supplies to assist Seychelles in its fight against the virus.
Ambassador Wei said that Seychelles and China share long standing friendly relations and noted that our country can count on her country for help and assistance in the fight against the virus.
It was the second batch of COVID-19 medical supplies donated to Seychelles by the Chinese billionaire Jack Ma. His foundation has been donating COVID-19 medical equipment to African Union member States as part of actions towards implementation of the Africa joint continental strategy for COVID-19 led by the African Union (AU) through Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC).
In reply, SS Lloyd said that the donations from Jack Ma Foundation are of great assistance to the health department and to the people of Seychelles.
She further said both donations are critical if Seychelles is to achieve its objectives set out at the outset of this outbreak which is to break the chain of transmission, to provide effective case management and also to ensure continuity of care.
Ambassador Lloyd stated that the donations demonstrated the strong friendly relations between our country and China while also cementing further the strategic partnership and more importantly consolidating the solidarity that exists between both countries.
She conveyed her special thanks to Jack Ma Foundation and the government and people of China for the generous donation.
On behalf of all health workers and people of Seychelles, Ambassador Lloyd expressed our deepest sympathy to the people of China for the thousands of lives lost, and also all those who have suffered from the COVID-19.
Handing over the second consignment of medical supplies coming from the WHO office in Addis Ababa, the organisation’s representative to Seychelles, Dr Teniin Gakuruh, said WHO has now established a hub in the Ethiopian capital to fly out medical assistance to needy countries within the African region in response to the ongoing restriction of flights.
Dr Gakuruh also indicated that the medical supplies, consisting of protective gears and laboratory equipment among other medical supplies, although coming through the WHO, is as a result of the generosity of both public and private donations in support of the global appeal strategy by the organisation.
She noted that WHO’s support to Seychelles against COVID-19 is not only confined to medical supplies but includes technical support in the form of health professionals who will be flown in on available special flights.
Ambassador Lloyd thanked the WHO, through Dr Gakuruh, for its continued guidance, support and assistance to Seychelles and to all other partners that have contributed towards the donation of the medical supplies to enhance the country’s preparedness in case the situation worsens.
Both Ambassador Wei and Dr Gakuruh commended our government for the very good response mechanism in place to contain the spread of the virus.
Present at the two symbolic handovers were the secretary of state for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Barry Faure, and the chief executive of the Health Care Agency, Dr Danny Louange.
The Ethiopian Airlines that brought in the combined COVID-19 medical supplies left the same day (Wednesday) with medical supplies for Mauritius, Madagascar and the Comoros.
Patrick Joubert
