SAN MIGUEL CORP. (SMC) has set aside P500 million to buy personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline health workers, the listed conglomerate said on Monday, as it called on local manufacturers to boost production to ensure a steady supply.
SMC said it was tapping its global network of suppliers to buy PPE that doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers desperately need to continue saving lives amid the coronavirus disease 2019.
“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 healthcare 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 Chief Operating Officer Ramon S. Ang said.
He also urged local manufacturers to retool their facilities, if they can, to produce these equipment and ramp up production to secure the supply chain.
SMC said it had been repurposing most of its facilities to respond to the need for more protective items and food for the hardest-hit communities. Its unit Ginebra San Miguel Inc. retooled its liquor plants nationwide to produce rubbing alcohol to help front liners fighting the outbreak.
