The flight that arrived in Budapest in the early hours of the morning on 24 March 2020 has delivered 70 tonnes of medical instruments and protective health care supplies in total. In addition to more than 3 million face masks, the latest consignment which constitutes a common procurement of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology and Semmelweis University also includes 86 ventilators.

After three days of preparations also extending to the weekend, the charter flight of the airline Suparna took off from Shenzhen on Monday afternoon, local time. The Boeing 747 giant plane was received at the Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Minister for Innovation and Technology László Palkovics, Rector of Semmelweis University Béla Merkely and Duan Jielong, Ambassador to Budapest of the People’s Republic of China. The fully loaded aircraft brought to Hungary, among others, 86 ventilators, 100,000 protective gowns, 100,000 pairs of gloves, 100,000 test kits and more than 3 million medical face masks.

Based on the commission of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology, the procurement was conducted by Semmelweis University, while its prompt delivery was made possible by the close cooperation of Hungarian and Chinese organisations, authorities and businesses. These vital products will be made available to local health care institutions for protecting physicians and nursing staff as well as for the treatment of patients in need of care.

The government is doing everything it can to increase the supplies necessary for the health care containment effort. In the near future, further consignments including medical instruments and protective supplies will arrive in Hungary from China.

(MTI)