Turkey’s support to Uganda, one of many African countries Ankara bolstered ties with in the past decade, has unwaveringly continued throughout the coronavirus pandemic. From oxygen supplies to food aid, the country’s philanthropists and public agencies extend a helping hand to Uganda.
When the African country was grappling with an aggressive second surge of COVID-19 cases a few weeks ago, one of the major challenges was a severe shortage of oxygen. COVID-19 patients in critical condition, as well as those suffering from chronic and acute illnesses, required oxygen, but the supply was insufficient to meet their increasing demands, particularly in the neonatal intensive care unit. Many of the infants required supplemental oxygen, which was in short supply owing to the increasing demand for treatment of COVID-19 patients in severe conditions.
Özcan Kardeşler, a Turkish medical oxygen supply company, was instrumental in ensuring enough oxygen supplies. Throughout Uganda, the company has installed and maintained 14 medical oxygen plants in regional referral hospitals. “Each of the above hospitals have oxygen plants with a capacity of 15m3/hours of medical grade oxygen,” Ata Özcan, the company’s director, told Anadolu Agency (AA). Kardeşler is boosting oxygen production capacity in different African countries, he said. “We are heading to Cameroon next week to boost production of the life-saving gas for COVID-19 patients. Our primary aim is to increase oxygen generation in as many countries as possible to support the fight against the virus,” Özcan explained.
Turkey aided several countries in their fight against the coronavirus, and the East African country is one of those that benefited from its assistance in combating the pandemic.
