By STANSLOUS NGOSA
China has donated assorted medical equipment to Zambia’s Covid-19 response worth 1.23 million Chinese RMB.
And 28 Chinese doctors have been deployed to Zambia to assist fight the Covid pandemic.
Chinese ambassador to Zambia Li Jie announced the donation when he paid a courtesy on Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya yesterday in Lusaka.
Mr Li said the Chinese government made the donation to help Zambia because of the second ferocious wave of the coronavirus.
“In consideration of the urgent need, we have decided to provide another batch of medical supply just now because we have noticed with great attention that Zambia is coming into the second wave of coronavirus,” Mr Li said
Mr. Li said the 28 medical doctors have arrived in the country and they will be deployed at the University Teaching Hospital, Levy Mwanawasa University Teaching Hospital, Ndola University Teaching Hospital and Livingstone General Hospital.
In an effort to enhance skills transfer to the locals, Mr Li said China has sent another group of medical doctors who would be in the country for one year.
Mr. Li said the Chinese doctors will not only help in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic but also support the general requirement and provision of medical services to the people.
Dr Chilufya, who thanked the Chinese government on behalf of President Lungu, said the donation has come at the right time because of the soaring numbers of Covid-19 patients requiring life-supporting gadgets.
He said the equipment will strengthen the Covid-19 response, which is in line with President Lungu’s aspiration to ensure that the pandemic is curtailed.
“In the last 24 hours 149 cases of Covid-19 were admitted to our varous hospitals, out of these, 88 are on oxygen, so when we receive a donation of Oxgenerator and ventilators and Oximeters, it is speaking precisely to the interventions we are putting in the response to Covid-19,” Dr Chilufya said.
