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Five medical ventilators are to be formally handed over to Cork’s biggest hospital by the Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr John Sheehan at 11am this Friday, June 5.

The ventilators, which will be located at Cork University Hospital, were donated by Ruijin Hospital in Shanghai, facilitated by the Shanghai Municipal Office of Foreign Affairs, as part of Cork City Council’s ongoing efforts during the global pandemic to help source medical equipment for the city through its strong relationship with Shanghai and its partner cities in China

Hospital consultants from CUH worked tirelessly with Cork City Council to make this donation a reality and the delivery of the ventilators to Cork University Hospital was administered through the Shanghai Municipal Health Development Foundation and the Irish Embassy in Beijing.

Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr John Sheehan, Cork City Council CE, Ann Doherty and Chair of Cork City Council’s Tourism and International Relations SPC, Cllr Derry Canty will attend the handover.

The Lord Mayor said: “I am delighted that patients suffering respiratory failure will have significantly improved access to life saving equipment following the donation of these ventilators by the Ruijin Hospital in Shanghai. In recent months we have been mobilising our international linkages with our Sister-City Shanghai and partner cities, Wuxi, Hangzhou and Shenzen. The Covid-19 outbreak is proving the strength of our relationship. Many lessons have been learnt and shared with us by our Chinese friends and have pre-empted many of the interventions we have made in this country’s battle against Covid-19”.

Accepting the donation of the respirators on behalf of Cork University Hospital (CUH), CEO Dr Gerard O’Callaghan commented that he was delighted to receive the extremely generous donation from the Ruijin Hospital in Shanghai, stating “The equipment will be a valuable additional resource should a second Covid 19-surge occur, but will also bolster CUH’s response capacity when it came to dealing with a variety of other emergency situations.” Thanking Cork City Council, the CEO commented that “The hospital is once again indebted to the Council, who are always willing to leverage their global network of contacts to ensure the citizens of the City of Cork have access to vital lifesaving equipment, a fact that is recognised and welcomed by hospital staff and the public”.

To date over 100,000 face masks and other items of PPE have been donated to the Lord Mayor of Cork by Cork’s sister city, Shanghai and its partner cities in China to protect patients, staff and the community during the Covid-19 pandemic. The equipment has been handed over to CUH, Mercy University Hospital and community healthcare facilities in recent months. PPE donations have also been made by the Ireland-Cork Chinese Business Association, CAJ Senior Care Beijing, Ireland China Science and Technology Association (ICSTA), Wenzhou Chamber and a number of members of Chinese business community in Ireland.

• Cork began developing ties with China 18 years ago and three years later became the first Irish city to twin with a Chinese city. Now, Shanghai is a sister city of Cork and Hangzhou, Shenzhen and Wuxi are partner cities.
• Cork City Council has been developing ties with China since 2002. In 2005, it signed a Sister City Agreement with the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government. In 2011, it signed further Memoranda of Understanding with the Hangzhou Municipal People’s Government and the Wuxi Municipal People’s Government. In 2013, Cork concluded a Memorandum of Understanding with the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government. Agreements in place with Chinese cities cover public health, education, local government and culture. The HSE in Cork City and Shanghai Municipal Health have signed an MOU.
• Cork City Council supports UCC’s Confucius Institute to offer student and teacher student exchanges between Cork and Chinese primary and second level schools to further cross cultural and social understanding amongst young people. Through the Cork City LEO, it also supports SMEs who want to develop Chinese markets

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