• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Thousands of COVID-19 testing kits, ventilators, PPE by FMN arrive Nigeria

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Shipments of medical supplies including COVID-19 testing kits, personal protective equipment and ventilators by the Flour Mills of Nigeria Group (FMN Group) have started arriving in Nigeria, as part of its contribution towards efforts to curtail the spread of the virus in the country.

The first batch of the supplies to arrive included ventilators, protective equipment and testing kits, and according to the company. The entire supply would have arrived and handed over completed by end of the month, it explained.

When fully delivered, the medical supplies will facilitate 100 per day field-testing capacity and 35,000 laboratory-based testing capacity. The supplies also include 331,000 pieces of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) comprising N95 Masks, Coveralls, Protective Gloves, and Protective eyewear enough to provide regular use for 10,000 Nigerian health care professionals over two months.

There are also 75 Ventilators, which the company expects will boost Nigeria’s total stock and these supplies are to be delivered to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to ramp up the capacity across the country.

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The company in a statement by Boye Olusanya, the Group’s chief operating officer, said the medical supplies worth $1.5 million were procured from Dubai, United States, Canada, Greece and China, and will continue to arrive in batches till the end of April.

“FMN initiated a global supply chain plan to help provide the Nigerian Government with tangible, and tactical support during the global economic lockdown,” said Olusanya.

He explained that the initiative, which was led by John Coumantaros, Chairman of the FMN Group, involved the leadership of the NCDC, Ministry of Finance, vendors from five nations, multiple logistics partners, and a team drawn from the FMN group’s operational leadership.

“The team scaled through varying national restrictions on medical supply procurement, limited stock, transport restrictions, but stayed resolute in the race to help Nigeria manage and flatten the curve,” said Olusanya.

Sourced through FMN’s global supply chain, the procurements according to the company focused on the most essential needs of the government at the moment, in a visionary global procurement operation idealized by John Coumantaros, Chairman of FMN Group, who is described as a leading industrialist and philanthropist.

Olusanya said that the supplies were an additional contribution by FMN through Coumantaros, its Chairman, having just redeemed a N1billion pledge to the Federal Government of Nigeria through the CBN-led Nigerian Private Sector Coalition against COVID-19.

He reiterated that despite procurement restrictions on supplies by several countries to ensure their frontline responders had sufficient supplies, FMN through its global supply chain network ensured that it sourced and procured these critical supplies for Nigeria.

He further said following a directive from Coumantaros, the group has commenced deployment of N400 million worth of food relief packages to vulnerable communities most affected by the lockdown in 11 states across the Nation.

“To reduce the impact of the Coronavirus outbreak, FMN will continue to work with the Federal Government and related agencies to provide relief materials.

“The safety of Nigerians is paramount to us, so we encourage all Nigerians to adhere to the necessary protective measures against the virus and its spread,” he said.