Vivo Energy donates PPE to national COVID-19 team
Downstream petroleum retail company, Vivo Energy Ghana, has presented personal protective equipment (PPE) to the National COVID-19 Management Team at Kwabenya, Accra.
The items, valued at GH¢100,000, included 4,000 examination and surgical gloves, I,000 N95 respirators, 1,000 goggles and 500 coveralls.
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The Managing Director of Vivo Ghana, Mr Ben Hassan Ouattara, handed over the items to the Ga East Municipal Hospital, the biggest treatment centre in Ghana for COVID-19.
Mr Ouattara said the company, which was the Shell licensee in Ghana, had since the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) been following the development and supporting the national response in many ways.
Support initiatives
He said the company had funded an e-learning application for basic and senior high school (SHS) students who were currently at home.
It has also donated hand sanitisers and liquid soap to some major bus terminals to help prevent the spread of the virus.
Furthermore, the company and its retail business partners have launched a retailer sustainability programme to ensure that communities in which they operate get the needed resources to fight COVlD-19.
“In line with the company's Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE) intervention processes, all Shell service stations had been equipped with hand sanitisers and other cleaning solutions as a precautionary measure to ensure customers were safe and not contaminated while accessing service at the various Shell stations”, Mr Ouattara said.
COVID-19 is real
The National COVID-19 Case Management Team lead, Dr Ali Samba, who received the items, expressed gratitude to Vivo Energy Ghana for supporting the frontline workers with the PPE.
He said the two main measures in the fight against the coronavirus were prevention and treatment.
"Coronavirus is real. Currently we are managing 160 patients who are on admission here at the Ga East Municipal Hospital," Dr Samba, who is also the Managing Director of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, said.
He added that already the Ga East Municipal Hospital had discharged 60 persons who had recovered from COVID-19.
Do not stigmatise
Dr Samba urged the public not to shun persons who had recovered from the disease "let us welcome them back home. It is important to know that once they have recovered, they cannot infect anyone and they are not a threat to anybody."
He called for more PPE from corporate bodies and philanthropists and explained that the government was providing support in that direction "but private sector participation will go a long way to help us."