Ambassador of Israel to Nigeria, Mr Shimon Ben-Shoshan said Thursday that the Israel Government has donated 2000 protective face masks to support Nigerian medical personnel in the ongoing fight against the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Ben-Shoshan, while delivering the face masks to the Minister of Health, Mr Osagie Ehanire, said that the items were designed in Israel and manufactured in Nigeria.
Ben-Shoshan, also Permanent Representative of Israel to ECOWAS , said that the items were put together by the Embassy of the State of Israel in collaboration with Skill-G, an Israeli company.
Ben-Shoshan said, “This is something that we have been doing, even before the outbreak of the COVID-19, which is using medical innovations of Israel in Nigeria.
“What we see today is another fantastic cooperation between Israeli companies with a group of companies in Nigeria in the production of protective masks.
“The protective masks which were designed in Israel and manufactured in Nigeria were printed with 3-D Printers in Nigeria.
“What we have here is the contribution of Israel to Nigeria; our goal is to donate 10, 000 protective face masks for medical staff in the frontline of fighting COVID-19.
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“Today, we are donating the first phase of 2000 face masks, we wish to continue and to bring the rest as soon as possible, and unfortunately the production process takes time.”
He observed that COVID-19 cases recorded in Nigeria were less than what obtained in Israel, saying there were 16, 500 cases so far and also 237 people died since the disease outbreak.
He described the disease as something no one expected, adding that COVID-19 is not about Israel or Nigeria but the world at large.
Receiving the items, Ehanire expressed appreciation to the Ambassador and his team for the donation.
According to him, the donation is something that we appreciate, because it is a sign of consideration and concern.
“It is something that is very handy, and we will be very happy to use the face shields in all our activities because there are many situations we need this protective face masks.
“We shall start deploying the protective face masks immediately to places we have need of them; our country is large and unfortunately the pandemic has spread to almost everywhere.
“We are trying to respond to calls, sometimes people are reporting where they are the severity of the outbreak of different kinds and we try to see what we can do.
“This is a pact to ensure the relationship between your country and our country continues, not only in the area of health but also in terms of technical cooperation,” Ehanire said.
(NAN)
