*Dina said they were given N95 masks that got zapped (decontaminated) up to five times. Picture: iStock
- The Solidarity Fund has taken delivery of a consignment of personal protective equipment (PPE) which arrived in South Africa on Saturday morning.
- This is part of the fund’s work to help provide the PPE that frontline health workers need to keep themselves and their patients safe.
- Costs were also kept low with donated jet fuel.
The Solidarity Fund took delivery of a consignment of personal protective equipment (PPE) on Saturday morning to help health workers fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
The fund’s chairperson, Gloria Serobe, said: “We are grateful for this partnership as it embodies the fund’s principle of unity in action. It is further proof of what can be achieved when different stakeholders come together and contribute their expertise for the benefit of a shared objective.”
Saturday’s delivery consisted of gowns and N95 masks.
It takes the number of PPE pieces that the fund has received to date to 25 million. It needs 35 million pieces.
The fund approved R905 million for procurement of PPE which secured nearly 80% of the surgical gowns and 100% of the N95 masks required to meet the weekly demand for healthcare workers until at least the end of June.
That is when the Covid-19 peak is expected.
According to the statement, the cost of the PPE was kept down because SAA, through its cargo division, as well as fuel suppliers BP and Total, which donated jet fuel, collaborated to reduce overheads.
The national Department of Health decides who gets PPE.
