Pope donates 2 ventilators to
Covid-19 stricken Ecuador
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| An ICU at the Carlos Andrade Marin hospital in Quito (AFP) |
Pope Francis donates two ventilators to hospitals in Ecuador
where experts say the death toll from Covid-19 is one of the highest in the
world.
By Vatican News
Pope Francis has donated two ventilators to hospitals in the
Latin American nation of Ecuador as the number of infections and deaths
continues to soar due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Announcing the Pope's donation, the country's Catholic
Bishops’ Conference revealed that Ecuador’s Ambassador to the Holy See, José
Luis Álvarez Palacio, has informed the Apostolic Nunciature that the devices
have already left the Vatican and will be delivered in the coming days.
According to the latest statistics provided by Ecuador’s
Ministry of Health, the nation that counts a population of 17 million, has
registered over 47,000 infections and nearly 4,000 deaths due to the new
coronavirus.
Experts, however, indicate that the true number of
fatalities is probably much higher.
Pope Francis's concrete gestures of closeness and concern
This donation to Ecuador is just one of many made by Pope
Francis since the start of the pandemic.
Marking his feast day, Saint George, on 23 April, he gave
two ventilators and boxes of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to hospitals
in the Diocese of Lecce in southern Italy. On the same day, five respirators
were sent, in his name, to the city of Suceava, in Romania, and another three
to Madrid, adding to those he had gifted to Spanish health care structures in
March.
On 18 April the Pope sent ten ventilators to medical centres
in Syria and three to St Joseph's Hospital in Jerusalem, together with a supply
of diagnostic kits for Gaza and the Hospital of the Holy Family in
Bethlehem.
The Hospital of Bergamo, one of the Italian cities most
affected by the pandemic, received a donation of 60 thousand Euros at the
beginning of April. In mid-April medical equipment was donated to some old-age
homes in the central Umbria region.
Pope Francis has also lent his support and contributed to
the creation of an emergency fund established by the Pontifical Mission
Societies aiming to assist those in need in mission countries. More recently on
June 9, the Pope opened a fund called Jesus the Divine Worker, and make an
initial donation of 1 million Euros.
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