Protecting people’s health and keeping the national economy in motion are common goals, the Parliamentary and Strategic State Secretary of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology said at the Wednesday online press conference of the operational group responsible for the containment of the coronavirus infection.

Tamás Schanda said this in response to the fact that Mol Hungary, too, is helping to supply hospitals with disinfectants. He stressed that protecting people’s health and keeping the national economy in motion are shared goals. He added that the initiative is an excellent example of cooperation between the private sector and the government, and is also a pledge of “getting back up on our feet after the epidemic as swiftly as possible”.

The government is working to ensure that the supplies necessary for health care and the population in general for the containment of the virus are available, Mr Schanda pointed out.

He said first the needs of health care must be satisfied, following which it will be necessary to make available a quantity of supplies that is necessary for the fulfilment of other state and community-related responsibilities. “All other needs are lower priorities.”

According to his information, there are two ways to obtain the necessary protective supplies. One of them is procurement and transportation of supplies from abroad, typically from China. As part of this arrangement, this week more than 3 million face masks, more than 130,000 protective gowns, 100,000 pairs of rubber gloves and 86 ventilators have arrived in Budapest from China, the State Secretary highlighted.

As part of the containment of the epidemic, parallel with procurements from abroad, the government has decided to increase and to start further raw material and finished product manufacturing capacities as products manufactured locally can be made more readily available, and can be swiftly delivered to hospitals and health care institutions.

Additionally, domestic production also contributes to containing the economic decline that has now also reached Hungary at a rate that had been unprecedented in the past ten years, he said.

He said, in the interest of strengthening and starting local production, the Ministry for Innovation and Technology is organising the supply of raw materials such as textile, plastic and ethanol, and if necessary, will help to connect market players together.

Mr Schanda further told the press that the government had received a number of voluntary offers and donations from companies of every size, while the cabinet had also contacted companies with a view to changing their production activities. Also in the case of face masks and various protective gowns, they “continuously organise and support cooperation,” he said.

(Ministry for Innovation and Technology/ MTI)