Richmond-company donates supplies for medical workers fighting Ebola

A Richmond-based medical solutions company has donated 4 million pairs of latex gloves to help medical workers fight Ebola in West Africa.

The gloves, donated by McKesson Medical-Surgical to humanitarian organization World Vision, are enough to meet Sierra Leone's needs for the next five months. They are part of a massive shipment to protect health care workers —  treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone — from becoming infected themselves.   Besides the gloves, the kits include aprons, goggles or face shields, masks, trousers and scrubs.

“I am very thankful that we are in a position to donate these medical supplies at a time when the help is so desperately needed in West Africa,” Stanton McComb, president of McKesson Medical-Surgical, said in a statement. The company, with nearly 700 employees in Richmond,  is an affiliate of McKesson, the largest healthcare services company in the U.S.

The supplies are scheduled to arrive just before Sierra Leone begins a mandated three-day quarantine from Sept. 19-21 to help stop the spread of the virus.

According to the World Health Organization’s Website, Ebola is a virus with a 90 percent death rate. Most current Ebola cases in West Africa affecting humans have been from human-to-human transmission, the site says.