French gas supplier donates supplies in COVID-19 fight
Editor's note:
Children are a particularly vulnerable group, and Shanghai Daily has launched a "Go Shanghai!" donation campaign to help those who are currently quarantined in makeshift hospitals. Although parents can accompany their children during the quarantine, diapers, infant formulae, baby wipes and toys remain among the essential daily necessities for them. In addition, donations to adult patients and medics are also welcomed. This series explores how local multinationals are responding and helping out.
A batch of masks donated by Air Liquide was being delivered to the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
The world's leading gas supplier, Air Liquide, donated masks for adults and other daily necessities for children worth 100,000 yuan (US$15,699) to Shanghai's COVID-19 makeshift hospitals.
The French multinational company donated the masks for adults to the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention through the Shanghai Soong Ching Ling Foundation. Other supplies for children, including masks, diapers, wipes and wet tissues, will be delivered to local makeshift hospitals that have infected children and their parents.
"As a French international company operating in Shanghai for over three decades, we hope to contribute to the city's fight against COVID-19 and do something for the medics and patients to help put the pandemic under control and bring the city back on track soon," said Nicolas Poirot, President & CEO of Air Liquide China.
The donation was part of the "Go Shanghai!" campaign initiated by Shanghai Daily to help infected children at makeshift hospitals.
The Shanghai Children's Medical Center had appealed for help last week as children's daily necessities, such as diapers, masks, baby formula and napkins, were in short supply.
Shanghai Daily sought donations to help with the shortages, and several multinational enterprises reached out with offers to help, including Air Liquide.
The management of the company approved the donation plan immediately, said an employee of the French firm.
Facial masks and other necessities will be delivered to local makeshift hospitals.
Two of Air Liquide's suppliers have also offered support. According to the company, after learning that the materials were intended for the makeshift hospitals, they offered huge discounts and arranged the logistics in the midst of the city's lockdown.
Local safety products manufacturer Hawkhood, for instance, emptied its warehouses in Shanghai and handed over all the masks it had as donations.
The other supplier, Suning, purchased many daily supplies for children.
Air Liquide has been assisting in the city's anti-COVID-19 campaign since the resurgence of the pandemic in March. It has already donated 200,000 surgical masks, 200,000 KN95 masks, 800 bottles of disinfection gel, 800 bottles of disinfectants, and 500 medical facial shields to the Shanghai Public Service Foundation for Volunteers. The supplies have been delivered to the city's front-line anti-COVID-19 staff and volunteers.
During the phased lockdown, employees of Air Liquide have been working overtime to ensure the operations of many local gas stations as well as the supply of medical oxygen cylinders for local hospitals.
"With the concerted efforts of all stakeholders, I believe we can get through the difficult period in the foreseeable future," Poirot said.
During the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, Air Liquide helped in the building of the Leishenshan and Huoshenshan hospitals in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, by providing industrial gases.
Employees work overtime to ensure uninterrupted operations.
Ensuring medical oxygen supply for local hospitals.
