The Rilk Philanthropy Initiative, philanthropic organization of Qatar based investor Rilk Dacleu-Idrac has acquired roughly 250,000 protectives face masks, medical gloves and various equipments to donate to healthcare and other frontline public workers in their fight against COVID-19. A donation which has been described to be one of largest bulk donations of very much-needed personal protectives equipments to frontline workers by a individual since the pandemic hit in mid-March.
The complete donation of N95, K95 masks, gloves kits and ventilators valued at roughly £3 millions will be distributed across the country to “priority targets” including “healthcare providers, first responders and other essential departments and agencies,” according to a statement put out by the organization on Friday.
“We identified weeks ago that N95 masks were some of the most important protective gear. As we were rushing round the clock to be able to find them through our own supply chain. Having already sent out orders for testing kits and various medical equipments, we saw an ability to source further masks than we wanted and embraced that opportunity” Scott O’brien, head of logistic at The Rilk Philantropy Initiative told the Post.
Thousands of health workers, primarily first responders, and those working in overwhelmed medical facilities across the country are compelled to show up to work and remain the world first line of defense against the spread of the global pandemic.
For that reason, The Rilk Philanthropy Initiative has had to leverage its global logistics reach to procure gloves, coveralls and masks in bulk.
“We scooped them up first because we thought by the time we coordinated with relevant authorities and everyone got organized they would have been gone,” O’brien said.
M. Dacleu-Idrac in a tweet mentioned the danger of the codiv19 virus continuous spreading with his disastrous effect on the world economy and called for more people to step up and provide all the necessary help to fight the pandemic.
#COVIDpandemic is not just a health issue anymore but present a serious threat to the entire human civilization with already disastrous impact on the global economy. Virus has to be stopped to avoid more damages to a situation which globally already feels like World War III
— Rilk | ريلك (@thisisrilk) April 18, 2020
On Wednesday, NHS told reporters that the government’s stockpile of PPE was likely not sufficient to prevent the entire healthcare system from becoming overwhelmed, and that people should take very seriously the guidelines prescribed to fight the virus by social distancing themselves and staying home.
Donations from other organizations
Various reports state that the government had placed an order for 200 million surgical masks and approximately 120 million N95 respirators to prepare hospitals for a potential surge of coronavirus cases — so far about 27 million surgical masks have been delivered to the UK, according to officials with knowledge on the matter.
An additional three millions N95 masks are expected to be delivered in the country before next week.
Other companies like Sainsbury’s, have also contributed to the PPE shortage, donating 30,000 N95 masks and 50,000 surgical masks this week.
Earlier this month, various companies with ties to the State of Qatar reportedly shipped more than a million masks, 80,000 goggles and 50,000 pairs of gloves to United Kingdom, though none of the companies have been available nor provided responses to our requests to officially confirm their donations.