Toyota SA drives fight against coronavirus

Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) has affirmed its fight against the spread of Covid-19 in SA with a multi-million-rand package to support the KZN Department of Health and eThekwini Municipality.

To solidify its commitment, it signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the department of health and municipality. The MOA, signed by president and CEO of TSAM, Andrew Kirby, provincial head of the department of health, Dr Sandile Tshabalala and acting city manager, Sipho Cele, outlines Toyota’s pledge of close to R15 million to provide testing equipment, hospital facility support, 10 vehicles for contact tracing as well as 50 000 face shields in the region.

The project, funded entirely by TSAM, except for the capital raised for testing equipment where business partners made contributions, was launched under the organisation’s corporate social responsibility banner called ToyotaReach.

“We can never overstate the role and obligation of Toyota South Africa as a corporate citizen in our country. Due to an urgent need to increase testing in Durban, TSAM with business partners, Cataler SA, CFAO SA, Toyota Boshoku SA, Toyoda Gosei South Africa, Toyota Tsusho Company Japan, Advics South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Metair Investments and Eguchi Iwao SA, will provide laboratory testing kits in the form of RNA extraction and amplification equipment. It is no cliché that the need is great, and we therefore need to pool our resources together as businesses to make as much difference as we possibly can,” said Kirby.

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The city will provide the facility for the testing centre as well as the human resources needed to operate it. Once this facility is operational, it will be capable of processing up to 5 000 additional samples per day.

“The second initiative falls within the spectrum of hospital-facility support. We will refurbish and upgrade the pharmacy at Clairwood Hospital in Mobeni and the hospital has been substantially upgraded with a large number of beds to support Covid-19 cases.

By supporting the infrastructure development at the hospital, we are enabling the efficient utilisation of the beds and improving the level of healthcare. We will also provide our production systems’ expertise to design and improve the process flows in the pharmacy to optimise efficiencies and service levels. We were informed the hospital will remain an infectious diseases hospital in the future, so the infrastructure will form a sustainable part of the facility into the future.

“The department of health identified a need to conduct contact tracing and testing in rural KZN. Toyota sponsored 10 Hilux double cabs for nine months to help health workers reach these sometimes inaccessible areas. The vehicles will enable officials to first track down all close contacts associated with infected individuals, and secondly conduct testing to determine what further steps are needed to curtail the spread of the disease.”

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The ToyotaReach package also includes the donation of an additional 50 000 face shields to provincial health institutions. In the last few months Toyota has already donated 13 000 face shields, which were engineered and produced at its manufacturing plant in Prospecton, to Prince Mshiyeni, Inkosi Albert Luthuli, Addington and King Edward hospitals. The latest consignment of face shields is destined for hospitals in the Zululand and Amajuba districts.

“The reality is that this disease is not going to miraculously disappear; we want to prevent a flare-up or second-wave spike which has been the experience in many other countries and also, the stats suggest that KZN may not be out of the woods yet. So yes, without a doubt Covid-19 is an ever-present challenge and we are confident we can still make a difference.”

TSAM has already donated more than 65 000 litres of sanitiser and thousands of face masks to the South African taxi industry, while 2 000 food parcels, each containing groceries to sustain a family of four for a month, were distributed to communities around the Prospecton plant and Atlas Warehouse in Johannesburg. In addition, TSAM has also supported more than 270 schools in Gauteng and KZN with readiness packs, including face shields for teachers, santisers, educational posters and IR thermometers.

“We also have a campaign called Safe to School Safe to Home, which focuses on the safety of school children travelling to school and back home in minibus taxis. This project currently benefits 24 schools in the Durban South region. Prior to the re-opening of schools in early June, TSAM assisted operators and drivers of learner transports with sanitisers, decanting bottles and shared some educational pamphlets pertaining to prevention protocols,” said TSAM’s general manager of corporate affairs, Jenny Maré.

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