Absa donates shs74m personal protective equipment to medical facilities

Absa Bank Uganda has donated personal protective equipment (PPEs) to four medical facilities to assist in the protection of frontline medical workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The equipment, valued at shs74 million was donated to CURE Children’s Hospital of Uganda (Mbale), Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation (Mulago), CoRSU Rehabilitation Hospital (Entebbe) and YouBelong Uganda for Butabika Hospital. All four medical facilities provide critical care to vulnerable communities.

Speaking at the handover of equipment to Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation in Mulago, the Absa Uganda Chief Financial Officer, Michael Segwaya said the move was meant to give back to the communities that have supported the bank for many years but also seem to be in need of the equipment in the trying Coronavirus pandemic times.

“Specialised medical facilities provide highly critical services to vulnerable communities around us and the COVID-19 pandemic has not spared these health ecosystems. This has highlighted the need for robust interventions that provide additional protection to frontline health workers in these facilities, to maintain the commendable work they do,”Segwaya said.

According to Dr.Juliet Nakku, the Deputy Executive Director at Butabika National Referral Mental Hospital, the Coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the occurrence of various non-COVID health conditions, such as mental illness.

She noted that the number of patients at the hospital recorded at the facility had doubled due to the onset of the pandemic, placing a strain on the resources and staff of the hospital.

Dr Adeodata Kekitiinwa, the Executive Director of Baylor Uganda applauded the bank for the generous support to the medical facility.

“We are happy with the generous support from our partners. Baylor-Uganda is a non-profit organization whose strategic purpose is to increase the utilization of high quality pediatric, adolescent and Family health care, education and research in Uganda.”

The personal protective equipment donated included disposable N95 face masks, re-usable gowns, medical masks, protective face shields, disposable gloves, hand sanitizers and thermometer guns.

These will go a long way in helping in the prevention of the spread of Coronavirus since health workers are at the frontline where chances of spreading the virus to and from patients are high.