Synthomer donates gloves to Italian hospital 

Filago, Italy – Synthomer plc is donating 450,000 medical gloves to a hospital near its Filago, plant to help in the fight against Covid-19.

The company's facility makes nitrile latex for medical gloves about 11 miles from the Papa Giovanni XXIII municipal hospital in Bergamo, located in the Lombardy region of Italy, which has been severely impacted by the coronavirus.

"Our Italian colleagues made us aware of the severe shortage of PPE in the region,” said Derick Whyte, Synthomer president of performance elastomers and Asia, said in a 6 May statement.

As leading suppliers of nitrile latex, the UK-based chemicals supplier said it reached out to some of its major customers and secured medical gloves supplies.

“Those customers have a backlog of orders with lead times of up to six months,” Whyte said. "So we are extremely grateful for their assistance and swift response to our request, and in addition for the matching donations a number of them made."

The first shipment of gloves arrived in mid-April from Malaysia, which also is under restrictions due to the virus.