Old Mutual yesterday delivered a consignment of Personal Protective Equipment for health workers at Sally Mugabe Central Hospital in Harare, keeping its promise to commit $3.5 million towards Zimbabwe’s fight against COVID-19.
This is the second such donation, following a similar handover at Thorngrove Hospital in Bulawayo last month as part of the #BusinessFightingCovid-19 initiative.
The consignment for Sally Mugabe Central Hospital consists of 600 aprons, 600 overalls, 3000 overall shoes, 300 boxes each of gloves, and masks. There are 3000 masks in each box and the same for gloves.
It is noteworthy that the protective gear is locally-produced, with the
manufacturer pledging adherence to the highest health standards.
With the number of infections among health workers rising worldwide, Old
Mutual, Zimbabwe’s leading financial services provider, is taking steps to
support the frontline medical staff fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure that they are well equipped for the long fight ahead.
Old Mutual also provided up to $2,2 billion worth of cover to health professionals on the frontline in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic
as part of a package that covers the life of the health professionals.
Old Mutual Zimbabwe chief executive officer, Mr. Sam Matsekete said the
the conglomerate had made it a priority to safeguard the health professionals as they battle to save the lives of Zimbabweans.
“In the unfortunate event of losing the life of a health professional, Old Mutual undertakes to pay up to 12 times monthly basic salary to the surviving family of the health professional. Through the scheme, COVID-19 deaths and accidental deaths are covered immediately whilst death from any other causes has a three- month waiting period,” Mr. Matsekete said at the launch of the scheme via Zoom held on 9 April 2020.
All the interested medical personnel need to do to register for the cover is to
email freecover@oldmutual.co.zw or dial *227# from their mobile phones.
Mr. Hopewell Mungani, the Sally Mugabe Central Hospital Acting Clinical
Director said: “On behalf of Sally Mugabe Central Hospital management and
staff, we greatly appreciate Old Mutual Zimbabwe’s kind donation of locally
produced personal protective gear.
“This donation will go a long way in motivating and capacitating the frontline medical staff in their relentless efforts to fight and mitigate against the spread of COVID- 19. The PPE ensures that Health Care Worker safety is put at the forefront in this fight against an unseen enemy.”
#BusinessFightingCovid19 is an initiative by the private sector to pool resources to fight the outbreak of the fast-spreading coronavirus.
Mr Oswell Binha, a trustee of the #BusinessFightingCovid-19 Trust said the
private sector had raised around $20 million dollars of support under the
initiative.
“The goal of the initiative is to rapidly deploy flexible resources to assist in the equipping and administration of existing medical facilities for the benefit of the Zimbabwean population,” he said.
“We believe the country continues to require collective energies to
satisfactorily mitigate the effects of the pandemic. Old Mutual has always
and significantly so, played a key role in assisting broad efforts to deal with
national problems. We thank them wholeheartedly.
“We continue to invite and encourage other corporates to join us in our
efforts to contain this catastrophe. It is part of our derivation of social licences to operate our businesses.”
Old Mutual and its banking subsidiary, CABS, have also boosted the capacity
of local institutions of higher learning to complement the national fight
against COVID-19. By providing funding, they bolstered their capacity to
innovate and address the immediate and long-term impact of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
At Africa University, Old Mutual and CABS are partnering the institution to
continue its efforts to innovate and partner with industry to mass-produce
sanitisers, some of which will be distributed in the community.
Chinhoyi University which has already started to produce masks has already received four overlocking machines which have helped it increase
throughput from 3000 to 6000 masks a day.
The consignment was yesterday handed over by Mr. Mehluli Mpofu, the CABS Managing Director, on behalf of #BusinessFightingCovid-19 to Dr. Tinashe Dhobbie the CEO of Sally Mugabe Central Hospital and his staff who include the Acting Clinical Director Mr. Hopewell Mungani, Matron Magarira of the Infection Prevention and Control Committee and a COVID-19 Taskforce Representative and Ms. Juliet Chikurunhe, the Public Relations Officer.