Mabe, Unicomer donate anti-covid19 aeroboxes

Appliance company Mabe, through Unicomer, donated 50 aeroboxes to the Ministry of Health on Friday in Port of Spain.

Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh received the donation from the managing director of Unicomer, Clive Fletcher.

“We are proud to have worked closely with Mabe to oversee the logistics of delivering these products to the Ministry of Health. Unicomer will continue to support our local health authorities as we chart a course to move past the covid19 pandemic,” Fletcher said.

The aeroboxes are plastic boxes used to create a barrier between covid19 patients and health workers during intubation. These will be given to protect frontline health care workers at covid19 treatment facilities.

Mabe developed the aerobox as a joint venture between health authorities and its operational business units in Querétaro, Mexico.

Intubation is one of the medical procedures that has the highest risk of contagion and the aerobox will reduce this risk. After going through design, testing, adaptations, and improvements, more than 30,000 will be distributed across Latin America and the Caribbean.

To speed up the design and production of the aerobox, one of the drawers usually used in Mabe’s brand of refrigerators was adapted.

Farid Arias, industrial director for Mabe in the Andean region, said, "We wanted to use the materials we had in hand and our installed capacity to accelerate the design and production process. Our collaborators have been key to develop the aerobox in such a fast and co-ordinated way.”

On receiving the aeroboxes, Deyalsingh said: “Sometimes the simplest innovations can be the most effective.”

He thanked both Mabe and Unicomer for the donation.