Saudi Arabia donates $1m worth of medical equipment to Nigeria to help combat Covid-19

SAUDI Arabia's government has donated $1m worth of Covid-19 equipment to Nigeria as part of the ongoing international cooperative effort to assist countries in need of help as they fight the pandemic.

Although Nigeria, like most other African nations has been spared the worst of the pandemic, she is short of vaccines and medical equipment. To help bridge this vacuum and ensure Nigeria is not left exposed and vulnerable, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has donated equipment that includes 23 ventilators, surgical sterile gowns, non-sterile surgical gowns, surgical masks and nitrile gloves.

Olusegun Adetola, a spokesman for Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Health, said:“In his goodwill message, the health minister, Dr Osagie Ehanire ably represented by the permanent secretary Alhaji Abdulazeez Abdullahi, thanked the good people of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the tremendous donation. The permanent secretary reiterated the Nigeria government's effort to fight the Covid-19 pandemic to a total level of eradication.

“He appreciated the Government of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its continuous contribution to the growth of Health Sector in Nigeria through the King Salman Humanitarian Aid & Relief Centre. He acknowledged the extensive efforts of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by combating blindness, cataract and glaucoma in addition to other sight weakness and disorders.

“In addition, he also expressed the federal government's readiness to utilise the kind gesture positively by distributing the items into various medical centres. He later commended the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its role as a key partner in global health and development and eulogised it for being at the forefront of combating the menace in order to save human lives and preserve global health.”

Faisal Ibrahim Alghamdi, the Saudi ambassador to Nigeria, pointed out that the kingdom plans to organize 12 medical campaigns to combat blindness, heart surgery and cataract defects across Nigeria's six geo-political zones. He added that the Saudi Arabia government has also donated food items to displaced persons in Borno, Yobe, and Zamfara states of Nigeria.