US embassy helps SA with virus-fighting supplies
The embassy delivered 254 high-tech LTE Medical Solutions Haier thermometers to assist ongoing efforts to combat Covid-19.
US ambassador to SA Lana Marks hosts a media briefing at the US Embassy in Sandton before the lockdown. Marks accentuated the importance of increasing trade and investment between South Africa and US. Picture: Gallo Images
The US Embassy in Pretoria, through its Office of Defence Cooperation, yesterday delivered a large consignment of medical supplies to the department of health for distribution to health facilities.
The embassy delivered 254 high-tech LTE Medical Solutions Haier thermometers to assist ongoing efforts to combat Covid-19.
The US Department of Defence recently funded 50 000 face shields, produced at the Ford factory in Silverton, outside Pretoria. The US government funds the shields’ materials, while Ford sponsors the labour.
The shields were being produced specifically for the SA Military Health Service, with some distributed in Botswana, Namibia and the kingdoms of Eswatini and Lesotho.
The Ford face shield order production has now exceeded 258 000 units, including almost 140 000 units donated directly to the department of health’s central warehouse and distribution centre in Centurion, as well as some hospitals, clinics and humanitarian organisations.
US Ambassador to SA Lana Marks said Ford’s local production of the face shields is “a shining example of an American company pivoting its mission and adjusting its value-added to make an effective and generous contribution to fighting this pandemic in SA”.
Dhiren Vanmali, Ford’s executive director of government affairs for Africa, said: “As an American company with a heart firmly in South Africa, we are exceptionally proud to be playing a key role in the national response to Covid-19.”
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