With hand sanitiser currently at a premium, breweries, raw materials suppliers, pharmacies and hospitals around the world have turned to producing the gel to safeguard supplies for frontline healthcare workers. Hand sanitiser is absolutely critical for all support services in health care.
At hospitals and for rescue and social services, hand sanitiser helps to preserve the health of patients and employees. Initiatives have sprung up at the local and national levels, bringing people and businesses together in new and heart-warming collaborations.
In Germany, for example, when its supply of the urgently needed hand sanitiser ran out, aid organisation Malteser Hilfsdienst started producing the disinfectant gel at its own hospital pharmacy. Getting the product to the hospitals, and making this accessible to the rescue service and mobile Malteser services, however, was a more difficult challenge, as the pharmacy had no means to package the product.
Packaging expert Gerresheimer, a company specialised in packaging for the pharma and health sector, and caps and closures manufacturer FM Plast, have now donated the necessary bottles and caps at no cost, to enable the sanitiser to be packaged for use where it is most desperately needed.
“I would have never thought that I would have been able to make such a contribution in my career and I am really delighted that we are able to help here,” said Christian Haas, who - in his everyday professional life at Gerresheimer - is responsible for sales of plastic packaging for Central Europe, Scandinavia and the United Kingdom.
Prior to this initiative, the two companies had never done business together, but they have now been brought together by the current situation. “And so, a new business relationship begins, starting with an act of kindness,” noted Lukas Rüsche, head of customer service at FM Plast.
The donation from the two companies has been a huge help, said Malteser Hilfsdienst. “We are extremely grateful that Gerresheimer and FM Plast are helping us and providing us with several thousand bottles and caps; otherwise, we really don’t know how we would have been able to supply the urgently needed hand sanitiser to our facilities,” said Daniel Linzbauer, head of purchasing at Malteser Hilfsdienst.