SA steps up to help SHOUT4MASKS deliver first masks to healthcare workers

In just a few weeks, South Africa has heeded the call to donate to the recently launched SHOUT4MASKS public service initiative, with over R1 million raised to date.

This deeply generous gesture on the part of the public and corporates has seen the donation of the first batch of over 60 000 KN95 and surgical masks to Charlotte Maxeke, Johannesburg Academic Hospital, Helen Joseph Hospital, Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital and Sebokeng Hospital, among others with more donations to follow next week.

The donations were facilitated through Wits Healthcare Innovation, a division of Wits Health Consortium that is supported by the University of the Witwatersrand’s Faculty of Health Sciences and that works with South Africa’s healthcare workers to create “bottom-up” innovation and change within the industry.

“This donation from SHOUT4MASKS is evidence of the massive support South Africans continue to provide for medical staff on the frontline,” says Dr Max Rath, Founder and Division Head of Wits Healthcare Innovation and Medical Registrar at Wits.” “Knowing we have this support is crucial to getting us through the pandemic. WHI thanks SHOUT4MASKS and its donors for this meaningful donation.”

“On behalf of the joint staff at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital and the University of the Witwatersrand Departments of Medicine, Critical Care and Emergency Medicine we would like to give a heartfelt thanks to SHOUT4MASKS and all their donors for their kind q, Head: Internal Medicine and a member of the COVID Response Team at Wits Department of Medicine.

“These masks will aid in protecting Wits affiliated healthcare workers putting themselves on the frontline during this pandemic as well as Wits medical students who are volunteering to help in this time of crisis.”

“The scientific research suggests the peak of the infections is only going to hit hard in months to come and the hospital system is going to require hundreds of thousands of masks per week for our healthcare workers,” says Danny K, co-founder of The Shout Foundation. “South Africa has to have the inventory on hand to deal with this vicious pandemic”.

Co-founder Kabelo Mabalane added “At SHOUT4MASKS we are doing our best, with the public’s support, to avert a national disaster which places our healthcare heroes at risk of contracting Covid-19. We all can play a crucial role in helping our country be in the best position to fight back”.

As part of SHOUT4MASKS’ aim to support the government’s efforts to get masks to where they’re most needed, SHOUT4MASKS has applied to join Business for South Africa’s (BSA) Public Health Workgroup supply portal.