Dr. Lia Grateful for Diaspora Fund’s PPE Support
ADDIS ABABA – Health Minister Dr. Lia Tadesse has expressed her gratitude to the diaspora community for their support of Ethiopia’s effort to curb COVID-19.
The minister said this after receiving various personal protective and medical equipments donated by diaspora from the Ethiopian Diaspora Trust Fund (EDTF) on Friday.
“My sincere appreciation to Trust Fund, which provided us with ETB 40 million worth personal protective equipments and medical supplies for the fight against #COVID19Ethiopia,” Dr. Lia said.
“I thank all Ethiopian diaspora from around the world and EDTF staff for their generous contributions,” she also said in a message posted on twitter.
Earlier this week, the minister said that the country needs to increase its stock of PPE with demand for surgical face masks alone is estimated to reach 130 million in the next four months.
EDTF procured protective equipment early May and other medical supplies worth USD 1.173 million in an effort to support frontline health personnel working in the fight against COVID-19 in Ethiopia.
The Fund procured the medical supplies from SNS Global Pharma Corporation. Its officials pledged EDTF would “do everything possible” to support Ethiopia’s COVID-19 fight.
Since Ethiopia reported its first case on March 13, the country has conducted a total of 131, 368 COVID-19 tests, and confirmed 1, 805 cases including 19 deaths. To date, up to 262 patients have recovered.
