Blankets and masks given to NMB isolation facility

Hundreds of blankets and thousands of masks  have been donated to the Covid-19 isolation facility located at the Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB) Stadium.

The donation of 320 winter blankets and 5,000 masks was made by Orion Engineered Carbons (OEC) in partnership with the NMB Business Chamber to the isolation facility,which is managed by the Nelson Mandela Bay Covid-19 Disaster Management Forum, on Thursday.

Forum head and Joint Operations Centre director Shane Brown  said Covid-19 was a reality that  was hitting every sector of society, including business, and that industries were not isolated from the communities they drew skills from.

“And for OEC to answer the call and step up is commendable. The provision of PPE at the isolation centre will go a long way in assisting our patients in that facility, the staff that provides care and the operational team in making sure that we continue to operate in a safe and enabling environment.

“We thank OEC as well as the business chamber for facilitating the support,” Brown said.

OEC managing director Roland Loganathan said: “It is important that the private and public sectors work in unison to minimise the effect on our surrounding communities.

“We are indeed delighted to partner with the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber to make a donation at this dire time of need.”

NMB Business Chamber CEO Nomkhita Mona said  the business chamber had sprung  into action since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak in SA and set up a co-ordinated business fraternity response towards the efforts to avert a potential humanitarian crisis in the region.

“This donation by OEC is proof that the company is aligned to the values of the business chamber of being a business with a conscience,” Mona said.

“We highly appreciate this generous gesture as Loganathan told us that they could not just stand by and not lend a hand. This adds more towards the other donations made by various business chamber member companies in the fight against the pandemic.”