BMW pledges solidarity to fight against Covid-19

A whopping eight hospitals and four clinics were expected to benefit, not only in Gauteng, but the North West and Limpopo provinces as well. First to benefit in Gauteng would be the Soshanguve combined clinic, neighbouring BMW’s Rosslyn plant.

The clinic was expected to be improved and upgraded to a testing and screening centre.

The accident and emergency facility at the Doctor George Mukhari academic hospital, in Ga-Rankuwa, was expected to be ‘significantly upgraded’ receiving a whopping 300 beds. Four other community clinics in the Soshanguve area were expected to be supplied with face masks, disinfectants and personal protective equipment (PPE).

Meanwhile, a further 150-bed overflow was expected to be provided in Bronkhorstspruit with an additional 300 beds added across the region. The motor manufacturing giant was also said to have provided fully equipped ambulances and vehicles for transporting patients to the various hospitals in the region.

The announcement was made during a virtual memorandum of the understanding ceremony held by BMW’s national international management alongside the head of the Gauteng health department Professor Mkululi Lukhele. Speaking during the ceremony this week, BMW Group’s chairman of the board of management Oliver Zipse said: “In a global crisis like the corona pandemic, solidarity matters more than anything else. We can help where help is particularly needed.”

Economic development federal minister Gerd Müller said the project in the Gauteng province formed part of their Corona response programme ‘which we use to not only combat the health crisis, but also the severe economic crisis in South Africa’.

BMW Group SA and Sub-Saharan Africa CEO Tim Abbott said now was the time society needed to pool its resources. Abbott added he was pleased to have been able to cooperate with the German government with an R76-million investment across three provinces.

“We build more than just cars and we need international solidarity and governments working together with the private sector during a global crisis,” he said, adding ‘together we can fight this crisis’.

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