Nigeria Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, says the country is expecting to receive more than one million masks from China.
Addressing reporters on Monday in Abuja, he explained that the masks were being sent by a Chinese construction company, CCECC, as parts of its corporate social responsibility efforts to help Nigeria combat the coronavirus pandemic.
CCECC, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, is in charge of a number of Nigeria’s major railway construction projects.
The masks are to be accompanied by ventilators, Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) and an 18-man team made up of Chinese medical and technical experts, the Minister said during the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.
Ehanire believes the supplies being brought in by China are “globally scarce” and will “augment government support and build capacity to contain the outbreak.”
In his address he said, Many of you who read the news know that there is a global competition for masks, that certain countries have been accusing each other of capturing each other’s masks,” he said.
“There has also been a global competition for ventilators with some countries donating ventilators to others and also swapping ventilators.
“So, it is particularly pacifying that in the face of all of this, we are able to get these supplies here, which even if we had the money, we would not have been able to order.
Speaking further, the Minister stressed the usefulness of the equipment being brought in and how the country would benefit from the knowledge of the Chinese experts
He said, “Now, this initiative will greatly build the capacity of our hard-working and resourceful Nigerian healthcare workers who are at the forefront of fighting the virus.
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