Cristiano Ronaldo and agent Jorge Mendes have donated €1 million to help three intensive care units in Portugal in their fight against coronavirus
Cristiano Ronaldo and soccer agent Jorge Mendes unite on Tuesday to donate life-saving equipment to Portuguese hospitals struggling to treat patients with Coronavirus.
The hospital said in a statement that the two would donate equipment for two wards at the Santo Antonio Hospital in Lisbon to provide the wards with ten beds each, ventilators, heart monitors, pumping pumps and syringes.
In Porto, the country's second-largest city, the Portuguese couple will equip award at Santo Antonio Hospital with 15 ICU beds, ventilators, monitors and other much-needed equipment. The three rooms will be named after the men.
"We want to thank Ronaldo and Mendes for this very useful initiative at a time when the country badly needs everyone," Paulo Barbosa, head of the Santo Antonio administrative board, said in a statement.
Although Portugal only reported 2,362 HIV infections and 29 deaths, which is much lower than Italy and Spain, the country's health system is already under stress.
Prime Minister Antonio Costa said in an interview with TVTV on Monday that the country's public hospitals have 1,142 fans and 250 private hospitals.
To deal with the crisis, the government bought 500 fans and four million masks from China.
"We (the health system) will never lose control of the situation," Costa said.
However, health professionals in the field have expressed doubts, especially regarding the lack of protective equipment.
The country's medical association, Ordem dos Médicos, warned on Monday that Portuguese hospitals lacked masks, gloves, and protective masks.
The nurses' association, Ordem dos Enferiros, echoed the concerns of doctors and said that some nurses wore swimming goggles to protect themselves.
Among the injured so far, 165 are health workers, according to the Minister of State for Health, Antonio Sales. Portugal declared a state of emergency on Wednesday with restrictions on popular movements.
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