Cape Town – Humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers is setting up Covid-19 testing stations across South Africa, with two functioning since last week.
It will be providing the tests at a discounted cost of R750. This includes consultation, specimen collection, courier charges, lab testing in a South African National Accreditation System-accredited laboratory, approved by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), and the administration costs related to feeding back to the NICD.
The two centres were opened last Monday in Gauteng, and a third is expected to be up and running in Ahmed Al Kadi Hospital in Durban later this week.
Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman said the organisation was supplying medical professionals with protective wear and equipment, and providing medical consumables to institutions in urgent need.
“To further enhance efficiency and identify areas of need in real time, Gift of the Givers has been partnered by Vula Mobile, which has 11000 registered medical professionals linked to it nationwide.
"Within 10 minutes of a positive case, we can be informed of what intervention is required from anywhere in the country.
"Meanwhile, requests are pouring in from professionals on this app to have items in advance, as many of their facilities are poorly resourced.”
Chris Hani-Baragwanath, Rahima Moosa and Helen Joseph hospitals received and erected tents outside the hospitals on Monday to reduce risk to other patients who might be immuno-compromised.
Contributions to Gift of the Givers: Standard Bank, Pietermaritzburg, account number 052 137 228, branch code 057525, ref. Corona. Section 18A tax exempt certificate obtained by mailing to [email protected]