Conglomerate Press Corporation plc on Thursday donated various medical equipment to the Blantyre District Health Office to help save lives during the festive period.

The items included oxygen cylinders, oxygen concentrators, oxygen regulators and nasal tubes.

Press Corporation plc Chief Executive Officer Ronald Mangani said, as a corporate citizen, PCL decided to donate the items to help hospitals to save lives.

"As we approach the year-end festive season we tend to have a lot of accidents, and lifesaving equipment comes handy and useful in this period.

"We thought we should help the hospitals with this equipment at a time when it is likely to be providing critical services to the country," said Mangani.

Receiving the donation, Blantyre District Health Officer Dr Gift Kawalazira thanked PCL for the donation, saying it has come at the right time.

"We are very grateful for this timely donation. It is an early Christmas gift for us. This is critical lifesaving equipment which is used on people that have breathing problems. You know that if you cannot breathe it's actually a matter of minutes before you can die.

"So, this equipment becomes handy especially now that we are going towards the Christmas period, hospitals become busy because of accidents from different sources. We want to promise PCL that this equipment will be used for its intended purpose," said Kawalazira.

He called on other well wishers to emulate the example set by PCL saying 'health business is everybody's business'.