As South Africa and the rest of the world struggles with the Covid-19 crisis, the City, UJ, Wits and Investec continue to come up with innovative solutions to save lives.
Last week, the member of the mayoral committee (MMC) responsible for Public Safety, Mally Mokoena received a donation of 7 000 face shields to be allocated to the City’s front-line workers most exposed to Covid-19.
This donation came as a result of a partnership between CoJ, UJ, Wits and Investec in aid of the fight against Covid-19.
MMC Mokoena said these face shields provided the urgently needed personal protective equipment for health-care workers, JMPD and EMS officers to fulfil their duties in serving the citizens of Joburg.
“My heartfelt gratitude goes to University of Johannesburg, Wits University and Investec for this kind gesture to think about the City’s healthcare workers and law enforcement personnel who have been our first and the last line of defense in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic,” said MMC Mokoena.
She said through the Knowledge Management & Learning unit, which strives to find and develop innovative solutions to respond to urban and community challenges faced by the City in the new normal resulting from Covid-19, by working closely with academic institutions as part of the long established memorandum of understanding between the different institutions.
Gavin Bernstein and Darryl Mayers, from Investec expressed their joy to have managed to land a hand in the fight against Covid-19. Prof. Maria Frahm-Arp from UJ said one of the key challenges during the COVID-19 crisis is to get personal protective equipment (PPE) to medical and essential services personnel as quickly as possible. By donating to this worthwhile initiative, we doing our part to protect those in the frontline of the COVID-19 crisis, emergency services, police, and medical personnel.
“The UJ MakerSpace is using 3D printing to produce desperately needed face shields for companies and organisations, however face shields should be used together with face masks as they cover the eyes and the whole face offering a high degree of protection from droplets,” concluded Prof Frahm-Arp.
ENDS
Issued by the City of Joburg
For enquiries, kindly send to mediaqueries@joburg.org.za
