China donates Covid-19 medical equipment to Cameroon

A laboratory worker

A healthcare worker in a laboratory. Cameroon has recorded 40,622 positive cases and 601 deaths since the first Covid-19 case was detected in the country in March 2020. File picture: World Health Organisation

Published Mar 16, 2021

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CAPE TOWN – One of the largest designated hospitals for Covid-19 treatment in Cameroon, the Yaounde Central Hospital has received a batch of medical equipment donated by China to fight against the novel coronavirus. Chinese news agency Xinhua reported on Tuesday.

"This donation comes at the right time. We are all together in the fight against Covid-19, a difficult fight for the health personnel. We can only thank the Chinese government," said Hassan Ben Bachir, head of the cooperation division of the Ministry of Public Health, who represented the Cameroonian authority to receive the Chinese donation.

According to the agency, the equipment includes ventilators, oxygenerators, electrocardiographs, among others.

This donation is offered as part of the cooperation mechanism between Chinese and African hospitals, an initiative proposed by China to help Africa in the field of health. A partnership has been forged between the Yaounde Central Hospital and the First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University in China.

Director of the Yaounde Central Hospital Pierre Joseph Fouda said this was the start of a collaboration that will be growing.

"It is a great emotion and a feeling of joy to receive this donation. We will use it wisely."

Cameroon has recorded 40,622 positive cases and 601 deaths since the first Covid-19 case was detected in the country in March last year.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Wednesday last week said China was a steadfast advocate for equitable vaccine distribution around the globe, according to an international news service CGTN.

China has donated or is donating Covid-19 vaccines to 69 developing countries in urgent need and is exporting vaccines to 43 countries.

Gabon and the Republic of Congo have already received their first batch of Chinese Covid-19 vaccines, CGTN reported.

The first batch of donated Sinopharm vaccines arrived in Libreville, the Gabonese capital on Friday last week and was received by its Prime Minister Rose Christiane Ossouka Raponda, accompanied by two ministers and Chinese Ambassador Hu Changchun, at the airport.

The Republic of Congo received its first donated Sinopharm vaccines on Wednesday ahead of the vaccination expected on the eve of the scheduled presidential election on March 21.

Congolese minister of health Jacqueline Lydia Mikolo was accompanied by two other ministers and Chinese Ambassador Ma Fulin at the airport to welcome the cargo.

ANA

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