ALIBABA founder and Chinese billionaire Jack Ma has pledged to donate half a million face masks to the Philippine government to help prevent the spread of Covid-19.
The delivery is expected to begin either later this week or early next week through the Jack Ma Foundation and the Alibaba Foundation, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said.
“I want to personally send my best regards and hope we can do something for the Philippines to fight this virus,” Ma said in a phone conversation with Dominguez which was quoted in a statement from the Department of Finance on Thursday. “I hope that I can do something more. For now, we have decided to give 500,000 masks to the Philippines.”
In response, Dominguez expressed his gratitude to Ma for helping the country fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Thank you very much, Jack. This is very, very much needed here, and I will tell our President right away of your generosity and your desire to help,” the finance chief told the billionaire.
Aside from the masks, Ma also gave Dominguez a downloadable electronic handbook that could help Philippine doctors, nurses and other health workers remain safe and avoid infection while treating Covid-19 patients.
The handbook, published by the Jack Ma Foundation, draws on China’s lessons learned from fighting Covid-19 and is co-authored by several medical experts who served at the frontlines of China’s efforts to contain the spread of the virus.
Ma informed Dominguez that with the handbook as a guide, “96 percent of the patients recovered, and none of the doctors or nurses got infected. So, I’m putting it online and I hope you can share it with the doctors and nurses and the hospitals in need.”
Dominguez also told the Alibaba founder about the stringent steps that the Philippine government has undertaken to contain the spread of the pandemic and expressed confidence that such measures would work to eventually break the chain of community transmission of the virus.
On Tuesday, Sen. Manny Pacquiao said Ma will also be donating 50,000 coronavirus testing kits, to be coursed through Ma’s charity foundation in partnership with the senator’s foundation.
Ma has also pledged to donate testing kits and masks to other parts of the world like Africa, Europe and the United States.