Equity Bank has donated Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to help fight Covid-19 in Migori County.
Speaking during the handover at Saint Joseph’s Mission Hospital-Ombo, Equity Group Chief Executive Officer Dr James Mwangi said that the PPEs will continuously be supplied to the hospitals for the next 18 months.
Equity Group had raised Sh 1.7 Billion that was dedicated to fighting Covid-19 pandemic across the country.
Mwangi who also chairs the Kenya Covid Task Force Committee revealed that Sh 1.4 billion was devoted to fighting Covid while Sh 300 million was devoted towards purchasing PPEs to protect doctors, nurses, clinical officers, community health workers and other frontline workers in the health sector.
Mwangi said that the Equity Group had decided together with the Kenyan government to support the 47 county referrals and 9 national government hospitals.
He highlighted that for the last one and a half years the county referrals and the national hospitals have consistently been supplied with PPEs.
Mwangi added that the continuous supply of PPEs will also be done for the next 18 months to ensure the safety of the health workers.
The Equity Chief boss stressed that they decided to engage the church in the fight against Covid-19.
“Due to better management skills and professionalism that church based faith institutions are run, we saw it fit to engage and partner with them to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic”, stated Mwangi.
He also acknowledged that the church based faith mission hospitals across the country were of level 4 and level 5 standards just like county referrals making them the perfect fit to help fight the Covid-19 menace.
Mwangi emphasized that Coronavirus pandemic can only be defeated if the national hospitals, county referrals and faith based hospitals collaborate to work together. He reiterated that the disease was not about people who were infected, saying it is about the 5,000 people who have lost their jobs in the informal sector and nearly 2 million who have lost jobs in the formal sector. About 7,000 people in Migori County have lost their livelihood due to Covid-19.
Apart from protecting the front line health workers, Equity Group had also donated Sh 85 million to the National Nurses Association. The cash will be used to set up a social psychic wellness for frontline health workers.
He pointed out that the stress that health workers undergo in handling Covid-19 pandemic can lead to mental illness. The Sh 85 million kitty will help health workers to get the necessary health support that they need.
Mr Elijah Odhiambo, the Migori County Executive Committee (CEC) for Lands, who represented Migori Governor Okoth Obado, thanked Equity Group for the good gesture towards ensuring the safety of Migori residents in regards to the virus.
Odhiambo however, cautioned that Migori and the nation at large were on the verge of facing the fourth wave that was projected to start in the month of August to October.
Migori County has a total of 1661 positive cases and a total causality of 69 since the outbreak of the Corona pandemic. Currently, the county has a fatality rate of 4.2 percent.
In attendance were Right Reverend Bishop Michael Odiwa of Homabay dioceses and the Chief Executive Officer Sister Beatrice Osire of Saint Joseph’s Mission Hospital who thanked Equity Group for choosing the mission hospital in fight against Covid-19.
Atleast 60 based faith health institutions across the nation will also benefit from the free Personal Protective Equipment. Saint Camilla’s Mission hospital in Nyatike Sub County and Migori County Referral hospital were the other beneficiaries of these free PPEs.
By Geoffrey Makokha
