SMC sets aside P500M to purchase PPE for frontline health workers

SAn Miguel Corporation (SMC) is tapping its global network of suppliers to purchase P500-million worth of personal protective equipment ( PPE) that doctors, nurses and other health care workers desperately need now to continue saving lives amid Covid-19.

“it’s very crucial that we get more PPE – protective masks, gloves, surgical gowns, among others - out there as fast as we can. We are hoping to fill the gap and continue supporting our government in whatever way we can. Our health care workers and government responders are risking their own lives to save ours but they are running out of equipment to protect themselves,” SMC president and COO Ramon Ang said.

SMC is currently mapping out available PPE capacity from its own suppliers even as it continues to look for domestic suppliers to help increase production of the protective equipment if they can as the battle against the virus continues.

“We are leveraging our network of suppliers to assist government in addressing this shortage. But this may not be enough. That’s why we are also calling on local suppliers, even the small ones, to come forward. We will help purchase your products and get it out in the market where it’s most needed,”Ang said.

He requested for government, though, to provide private sector with technical specifications and standards the protective items must meet.

The company has been repurposing most of its facilities to respond to the need for more protective items and food for the hardesthit communities. SMC’s Ginebra San Miguel inc. recently retooled its liquor plants nationwide to produce rubbing alcohol to help front liners fighting the outbreak.