OM donates 21 tons of medical oxygen

By Staff Reporter

OLD Mutual Namibia has joined hands with other private companies within the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) by purchasing and supplying 21 tons of medical oxygen to the value of N$350 000 to support government in addressing the current shortage of critical oxygen supply for the treatment of Covid-19 patients in public healthcare facilities.
Speaking at the handover event that took place last week, Ndangi Katoma, executive: marketing, communications and customer strategy at Old Mutual said Old Mutual Namibia continues to change many lives even during the time when the country is busy fighting Covid-19.

“Covid-19 has been devastating to our economy and our livelihoods. The statistics started as just numbers.

But the numbers turned into names and it is names that we dearly know like our colleagues and customers.

For many Namibians, the names are their spouses, parents, family members, friends and associates that have succumbed to Covid, particularly in the devastating month of June.”
Old Mutual commitment to battling the effects of Covid-19 started in 2020 when a pledge of N$5 million was made towards the nationwide efforts to help address some of the challenges posed by the pandemic.
In April this year, Old Mutual continued their support to the government voluntary vaccination program led by the Ministry of Health and Social Services through sponsoring N$1 million towards the procurement of vaccines in Namibia.
Old Mutual Namibia has done so through collaboration and participation in the vaccines for Hope Coalition, an alliance of private sector partners coordinating support towards the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines in Namibia.

Receiving the contribution, Charity Mwiya, NCCI chief executive officer and Mark Dawe, managing director of B2Gold Namibia commended Old Mutual for coming on board with its significant contribution.
“We extend our gratitude to the private sector and Old Mutual in particular for joining this initiative as the NCCI continues to mobilise support from within the Namibian private sector. We want to ensure that we are in a position to offset the shortfall through sponsorship and donations towards the costs and logistics in addressing the critical oxygen supply and other Covid related critical needs such as hospital beds availability in our country,” said Mwiya.

Dawe also expressed his appreciation to Old Mutual for its generous support and reiterated the commitment by B2Gold Namibia through the Chamber of Mines and NCCI, who are both coordinating the logistics on behalf of the business coalition.
Weekly loads of medical oxygen are being procured from Afrox and Kryogas Namibia with the objective of entirely eliminating the shortfall of oxygen in the country.