Arcelormittal Liberia donates ambulances

ArcelorMittal Liberia has donated two ambulances to the Government of Liberia to buttress ongoing fight against the Ebola Virus Disease.

According to a press release, the donation was made on behalf of the company by its Country Manager, Ronnie Addy.

Mr. Addy presented the ambulances and keys to the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Walter T. Gwenigale, and Minister Tolbert Nyeswah, Incident Management, Chair of the Ebola Response Team, in the presence of other team members.

He said the decision for the donation was made by ArcelorMittal Liberia’s CEO, Antonio Carlos Maria, to help increase the government’s fleet of Ebola response ambulances.

“It is important to support the people of Liberia during this crisis.  There is nothing more important than human life, and we will continue to assist in this fight towards ending this situation in Liberia” said CEO Maria.

According to the release, the donation forms part of the company’s support to the country. Two weeks ago, ArcelorMittal Liberia signed a memorandum of understanding with AFRICARE to fund the training of a 150-man Ebola contact tracing team to help bolster the number of trace technicians on the ground. Last week the company also turned over to the Government an Ebola holding and treatment unit in Ganta, Nimba County.

The external affairs and corporate responsibility manager for ArcelorMittal Liberia, Marcus Wleh, said the donation of the two ambulances will be a critical addition to Ebola case management in Montserrado and other counties.

He said, “ArcelorMittal Liberia believes that this contribution will help to close a critical gap in case management for the overall Ebola response in Liberia, especially in highly affected areas. The donation forms part of other contributions already made, both at the county and national levels.” 

Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyeswah, who is the Incident Management, Chair of the Ebola Response Team, responded: “This donation of ambulances and other donations by ArcelorMittal Liberia will go a long way in accelerating the response rate of the teams on the street, extracting sick people from the communities to the treatment centers.”

ArcelorMittal, the world’s leading integrated steel and mining company, with a presence in more than 60 countries, is the leader in all major global steel markets, including automotive, construction, household appliances and packaging, with leading R&D and technology, as well as sizeable captive supplies of raw materials and outstanding distribution networks.

In 2012, ArcelorMittal had revenues of $84.2 billion and crude steel production of 88.2million tonnes, representing approximately 6 percent of world steel output.