Ecosure, a subsidiary of Cassava Smartech, a division of telecommunications giant, Econet Wireless has announced plans to immediately support the country’s national health delivery system by capacitating doctors and nurses with protective equipment in the fight against COVID-19, which continues to claim lives across the globe.
Zimbabwe’s public hospital doctors and nurses went on strike this over a lack of protective clothing, which they said put them at high risk of contracting the deadly pandemic.
EcoSure this week said it was important that all frontline medical staff were fully protected as they carry out their duty for the coming 12 months.
“In the situation we find ourselves in as a nation, we want to ensure all frontline medical staff are fully protected and we are putting in place measures that give them confidence as they carry out their noble duty of primary patient care and as they save lives,” said Eddie Chibi, Cassava Smartech chief executive officer.
Chibi said they would also be providing medical practitioners with life and health insurance while also offering them transport to and from work daily.
“As Zimbabwe, along with the rest of the world, battles the COVID-19 Corona virus global pandemic, EcoSure has announced plans to immediately support the country’s national health delivery system by equipping frontline medical staff with protective personal equipment (PPE), providing them with life and health insurance and offering them safe transport to and from work daily, for the coming 12 months,” he said.
EcoSure General Manager, Godwin Mashiri, said his organisation would immediately begin the process of providing support and Vaya transportation for all medical practitioners who go to work and attend to their duties at this critical time.
“We are offering free Personal Protective Equipment for all doctors and nurses who attend to their duties at this very critical time. We are also offering free Vaya transport to both nurses and doctors, so they can commute to and from work in safe and sanitized vehicles,” Mashiri said.
“We will also be immediately offering life and health insurance in the form of a cash benefit of Z$500 per day, for each day of hospitalisation, and a lump sum benefit of Z$50,000 in the event of permanent disability and eventual death caused by any accident,” he said.
He added that the package would include a cash benefit of up to Z$30,000 in the event of death arising from any other cause apart from accidents.
“On top of that, we will also be offering 100 percent education scholarships for the children of any medical practitioner who takes up this offer to work in public hospitals or clinics at this time, should they pass on during this period,” said Mashiri.
Meanwhile, Chibi said they partnered with local authorities around the country to provide hand washing basins in urban public places to promote sanitation and cleanliness that helps prevent the spread of the virus.
“As a business, we are taking different measures to curb the spread of the Corona virus both at our own workplaces and in public spaces,” he said.
He added that all of Cassava Smartech staff members were now ‘telecommuting’ (working online from home) after the company made available digital platforms to ensure customer services were available all the time in the period the nation is battling the COVID-19 pandemic.
