Speaking at the Coronavirus Operational Group’s regular press conference, Péter Ratatics, chief executive officer at Hungarian oil and gas company MOL, said that his company will produce 50,000 liters of disinfectant on a daily basis. This amount, according to experts, will meet the needs of the whole population for several months.
“The most important part of the defense against coronavirus is prevention; the most important part of prevention is disinfection. We are ready; we have initiated production of the disinfectant,” Ratatics said, adding that public institutions and large firms will receive new supplies first.
Calling the cooperation between MOL and the Hungarian Government an “excellent example,” Tamás Schanda, a parliamentary state secretary at the Ministry of Innovation and Technology, said that the common goal of the corporate sector and the government is to “protect people’s health and keep the economy in motion.”
“There are two ways to procure the necessary protective gear,” Schanda said. “One is to buy them from abroad,” while the other one is to produce them at home.
Meanwhile, Colonel Tibor Lakatos, head of the Operational Group, revealed that the Government has recently made available an additional HUF 15 billion for the procurement of protective equipment. “The procurement of ventilators, surgical masks, rubber gloves and special equipment is ongoing,” Lakatos said, adding that the expansion of the number of hospital beds in intensive care units is under way as well.
Brigadier General Romolusz Ruszin, leader of the military branch providing support for strategic companies, said at the press conference that the military is now present on-site at a total of 84 companies. “Please don't imagine this as soldiers working the cash registers; the task of these operational groups is to support companies’ leadership,” Ruszin said.
Photo credit: Index