By ; Shaima Hassan 

As part of its ongoing efforts to support Egypt’s healthcare system in combating the spread of the “COVID-19”, Orange Egypt has announced its participation in a new initiative “Breathe Egypt”, under which 15,000 protective face shield masks will be manufactured and distributed among the medical staff in the governmental hospitals of Egypt in cooperation with the makers community campaign “Breathe Egypt” and Fab Lab Egypt nationwide , as well as Orange Mini Fab Labs that are located in several governorates.

The outtake of this initiative reflects Orange vision in investing in the Egyptian talents in general and in the young Egyptian manufacturers and their industrial capabilities in specific whereas Orange has utilized its digital manufacturing arm “Orange Mini Fab Labs” - that are located in the governorates of Zagazig, Mansoura, Aswan, and Ismailia, And Assiut – to develop and produce these face shield masks.

It is worth noting that “Orange Mini Fab Labs” strongly contribute to the development of many areas of expertise whether in the infrastructure of the practical education or in the digital manufacturing aspects. In addition, it also helps in solving the centralization problem for all the manufacturers across Egypt where they can have access to the needed machines and tools for digital manufacturing while having the ability to obtain trainings and educational workshops that allow them to gain the necessary knowledge and expertise.

It is worth mentioning that Orange Egypt's recent healthcare initiatives came with the support of Orange Foundation’s exceptional funds to Egypt whereas the healthcare and its medical staff are the most eminent resources and factors in combating the COVID-19 pandemic.

Commenting on this initiative, Hala Abdel Wadood, Head of Public Relations & Corporate Social Responsibility at Orange Egypt, said “Protecting and supporting the medical staff on the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19 has been one of our main objectives lately and thus we launched several and varied initiatives in this direction since the outbreak of the pandemic in Egypt.”

“Throughout its history, Orange has strongly supported the digital manufacturing and the manufacturers in Egypt by sponsoring tremendous activities in this regard in cooperation with Fab Lab Egypt and Orange Mini Fab Labs and consequently, many innovative ideas were transformed into real products such as those surgical masks and face shields for the medical staff” she noted.

For his part, Omar Al-Safty, General Manager of Fab Lab Egypt said, “Fab Lab provides all the necessary tools and machines needed to transform ideas into real projects and prototypes, adding that the labs established by Orange Mini Fab Labs and Fab Lab Egypt play a crucial role in providing protection tools in Egypt and also in developing technological solutions during the current crisis.”

"Orange Mini Fab Labs are essential in the global fight against COVID-19, whereas they provide easy and quick solutions to manufacture protection equipment digitally for medical staff. “

He emphasized. On the other hand, Mina Ishak, Member of “Breathe Egypt” campaign, said, “We believe that True happiness lies in helping others and we are so proud to take part in this campaign that aims to provide the medical staff in Egypt with a large number of protective masks where they play a key role in battling against the pandemic.”