Couples Resorts, Issa Trust hand over $40m in medical supplies
Published:Wednesday | December 1, 2021 | 12:06 AM
Couples Resorts and its charity arm, Issa Trust Foundation, on Monday donated medical equipment valued $40 million to Jamaica’s public health sector.
The goods included various neonatal supplies, feeding tubes, and syringes, in addition to KN95 masks and surgical masks.
At the handover, which took place at the North East Regional Health Authority (NERHA) office in Ocho Rios, Paul Issa, chairman of the Issa Trust Foundation and deputy chairman of Couples Resorts, said NERHA has received the bulk of the supplies, totalling $20 million.
The NERHA includes the parishes of St Ann, St Mary and Portland which hosts five hospitals.
“In addition, $10 million worth of masks are going to the Western Regional Health Authority, and $10 million to the Caribbean Institute of Nephrology at The University of the West Indies Hospital,” Issa said.
Issa disclosed that the partners involved in the donation of the masks was Bridge for Life Foundation, while the other supplies came from Footprint Medical, both United States based organisations.
Dr Deborah Weir, acting regional medical epidemiologist for the NERHA, accepted the donation and expressed gratitude to Couples, Issa Trust and their partners.
“This has added to our inventory of personal protective equipment that we have for our front-line workers both in our hospitals and our primary care,” Weir said.
“The additional equipment that were donated will go a far way in our continued effort to deliver quality care to our clients,” she added.
“The Issa Trust Foundation is very grateful to its partners, Bridge of Life Foundation, who donated the masks and Foot Print Medical in Iowa for the neonatal supplies, and we are very pleased to have been able to facilitate this donation, especially at this time when the pandemic has created an even greater need,” Issa added.
Couples Resorts and Issa Trust have, over a period of several years, made donations to the local health sector valued at hundreds of millions of dollars.
For the year October 2020 to September 2021, total donations amounted to over US$4.4 million, which included medical supplies and equipment for NERHA and the western region, as well as pharmaceutical meds donated by Direct Relief to the National Health Fund.