Ecopetrol and District Mayor's Office join efforts to provide humanitarian aid to Barrancabermeja
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Ecopetrol and District Mayor's Office join efforts to provide humanitarian aid to Barrancabermeja
Jan 6, 2021
- Ecopetrol will invest more than $10 billion in the region to address the emergency.
- A total of 17,400 markets will be distributed to vulnerable families.
- More than 30,000 vulnerable head of household will receive monetary support.
- The Danube Health Centre will be equipped with a cooling system for the benefit of 20,000 users in communes 5, 6 and 7.
Ecopetrol, through an alliance with the District Mayor's Office of Barrancabermeja, begins the delivery of an aid package of more than $10 billion that will benefit the inhabitants of the oil port and the region, especially the most vulnerable population during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The company's contribution is made up of three lines: humanitarian aid, protection of the vulnerable population and strengthening of the health system.
In the area of humanitarian aid, 17,400 markets will be delivered to vulnerable families in the Magdalena Medio region, of which 1,500 will be distributed by the District Mayor's Office. The acquisition of the products that make up the markets was carried out with a local supplier to help boost the city's economy.
During the delivery of the markets to the mayor's office, representatives of the Provincial Prosecutor's Office, the Ombudsman's office and the Municipal Office were present, who verified compliance with the product schedule, as well as the distribution strategy.
The delivery of the remaining 15,900 markets will be made during the coming weeks to the neediest population of Barrancabermeja and other municipalities of Magdalena Medio.
The line of protection for the population in a condition of vulnerability consists of the distribution of resources for $5.8 billion among more than 30,000 heads of household, who will receive $160,000 each, which is the base subsistence value defined by the National Government.
The resources will be managed by a fiducia and their distribution will be made through the local banking and banking correspondents. People who are unbanked will be assigned a PIN to claim the corresponding contribution in the authorized establishments. Progress is currently being made in the definition of operational spaces to start the distribution of resources.
Beneficiaries who do not receive subsidies, nor benefit from social programs of the National Government, will be selected by the district administration taking as input the master database generated by the National Planning Department, which will be crossed with database of the Registry General of the nation.
In the line of strengthening the health system, an investment will be made in phases. The first is aimed at improving the El Danubio Health Center, which is part of the Social Enterprise of the State (ESE by its acronym in Spanish) of Barrancabermeja and has six general medicine offices, two dental offices, a clinical laboratory and a delivery room.
The investment will go towards the purchase of an air conditioning system that this medical center requires to provide better care to about 20 thousand users of communes 5, 6 and 7. It is currently in the process of contracting.
In the second phase progress will be made in the conditioning of the ESE of the medium Magdalena. Currently the Government of Santander, the District Mayor of Barrancabermeja and the ESE Hospital del Magdalena Medio, with the support of Ecopetrol, are in the formulation of the project, in which the company will initially invest $800 million.
The Department of health of Ecopetrol is also making progress in the assembly of the laboratory of molecular biology for the performance of tests and diagnosis of covid-19 that will be put at the service of the population of Magdalena Medio. The laboratory will be operational within a week and will be able to process up to 192 tests in 8 hours, with an opportunity to deliver results between 48 and 72 hours. The investment made by Ecopetrol in the commissioning of this laboratory is close to $1 billion.
In this way, Ecopetrol joins the efforts made by the District Mayor of Barrancabermeja to prevent the spread of covid-19 and invites the inhabitants of the oil port to comply with preventive measures that allow to contain the spread of the virus and join efforts to protect the health and life of all Colombians.
