Chinese donate medical supplies to Barbados

The Ministry of Health and Wellness in Barbados received further support for its response to the public health challenge of COVID-19 from the People’s Republic of China on Friday.

China’s Ambassador to Barbados, Yan Xiusheng, handed over two batches of medical supplies to Senior Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Arthur Phillips, during a ceremony at DHL, Pilgrim Road, Christ Church.

The first batch of supplies, donated by the Hunan Provincial People’s Government, comprised 10,000 N95 respirators, 20,000 surgical face masks, 500 surgical protective gowns and 500 medical protective goggles.

The second batch, comprising 3,000 swabs, was donated by the Chinese engineering contracting company, COMPLANT, which is the main contractor at the Sam Lord’s Castle project in St. Philip.

Noting that COVID-19 posed a common challenge for humanity, Ambassador Yan posited that solidarity and cooperation were the most powerful weapons to tackle it.

The donations, he said, were good examples of China-Barbados cooperation in response to the public health threat, and of the “long-time friendship” between the two countries, which established diplomatic relations in 1977.

Dr. Phillips, in accepting the medical supplies on behalf of the Ministry, thanked the donors, noting that China continued to be a partner with the Barbados Government in its efforts to combat COVID-19.

He said the Ministry was very appreciative of the support and looked forward to further collaboration as Barbados continued to build capacity to deal with the pandemic.