Sri Lanka National Cricket team players Wednesday contributed to buy essential equipment for the National Hospital to fight the Coronavirus epidemic, Cricket Age exclusively learns. The players contributed to buy Video Laryngoscopes for the national hospital which is one of the important necessities to treat Coronavirus patients.
Like any other part of the world, the deadly virus has created havoc in Sri Lanka as well, with more than 100 people have tested positive till Wednesday.
“Instead of giving funds to just grab the attention, we decided to contribute to the national hospital in buying essential equipment to treat the patients, who are getting infected by the deadly virus. This is not the time to make headlines, but to support our people, our country in the need of the hour” a senior player of the test side told Cricket Age, in terms of anonymity.
On Monday, the Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC) also announced to donate 25 million LKR to the Mahinda Rajapaksa led government.
The novel coronavirus pandemic has been wreaking havoc all over the globe and is now engulfing South Asia including India, Bangladesh and Pakistan in its vile grip. As a result, many public personalities across the world have been coming forward to do their bit to help the fightback. Cricket is not untouched with the most recent example coming out of Bangladesh where 27 premier cricketers including the likes of ODI captain Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim have decided to donate half of their monthly salaries to help fight the Covid-19 disaster.
A total of 31 lakh Bangladesh Takas including tax deductions will be pooled from the players’ salaries, as confirmed by Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) cricket operations and national team manager Sabbir on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi has also earned praise from all quarters, including his yesteryear on-field rival Harbhajan Singh for donating disinfectant soap, material and food to the needy in his country.
Elsewhere, Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo and agent Jorge Mendes joined forces on Tuesday to donate lifesaving equipment to Portuguese hospitals struggling to treat patients with coronavirus.
The two will donate equipment for two wards at Lisbon’s Santa Maria hospital, providing the wards with 10 beds each, ventilators, heart monitors, infusion pumps and syringes, the hospital said in a statement.
