Corona Heroes: Romanian buys EUR 50,000 Covid-19 test equipment for public hospital in Iasi from donations

Bogdan Tanasa, a local entrepreneur and fundraiser, whose association has been building houses for poor families for several years, has delivered an automated machine that processes Covid-19 tests to the Saint Parascheva Infectious Diseases Hospital in Iasi. Bogdan has raised the USD 55,000 (EUR 50,000) to pay for this equipment from donations, through his network of contacts and through the Casa Share Facebook page.

This machine alone allows the hospital to process 450 Covid-19 tests per day whereas the hospital’s test processing capacity before this was only 50 tests per day. The Saint Parascheva Infectious Diseases Hospital is the Covid-19 designated center for the whole Moldova region, with a population of about 4 million people.

“Good news! I said I would do it and I have! I will let my actions speak for me. The test equipment, which will carry out 450 tests per day, has arrived at the Infectious Diseases Hospital (they are currently processing only 50 tests per day for the whole Moldova area). Without all your help this wouldn’t have been possible! So, the first thing I do is to thank YOU all!” Bogdan Tanase wrote on the Casa Share Facebook page.

Bogdan, 44, has been among the first to act when the first cases of Covid-19 were reported in Romania, at the beginning of March. He first offered to buy groceries and deliver them to people who couldn’t go to the store. He then started an online fundraising campaign to help the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Iasi with much-needed equipment and materials to fight the Covid-19 outbreak. He has called dozens of suppliers in Romania and abroad to procure protection equipment, certified surgical masks, and the Covid-19 test equipment.

In about one week, by March 18, Bogdan had already raised the money for the test equipment and had also bought 900 surgical masks as well as disinfectants for the hospital in Iasi. One day later, he placed another order for 16,000 surgical masks and 400 protection costumes from a supplier in China. Everything financed from donations that Bogdan raised from his friends and contacts and through the Casa Share Facebook page, which has over 260,000 followers.

In this time, Bogdan has continued to work on a new house that he has been building for a poor family with many children – Casa Share 23 (his 23rd such project). Because this is what Bogdan has been doing in recent years: building houses for the poor and helping anyone he can.

If you want to help Bogdan help others during these difficult times, you can find his contact details on the Casa Share Facebook page.

(Photo source: Casa Share Facebook page)