Handing Over Ceremony of COVID-19 Response Items to the Department of Health, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (April 16th, 2021)

In an effort to fight against the pandemic, and to support the partners to tackle with the COVID-19 pandemic, Khyber Medical University formally organised the event “Handing Over Ceremony of COVID-19 response Items to Department of Health, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’’ on Friday, April 16, 2021. The event was organised by the Khyber Medical University and GIZ with the financial support of European Union.

The occasion was honoured by the Dr. Amer Afaq (Special Secretary Health)Prof. Dr. Zia Ul Haq (VC KMU), Dr. Maqsood Ali (CEO Healthcare Commission), Dr. Saleem Gandapur (Registrar KMU), and Dr. Naveed Sadiq (Assistant Professor KMU & Project Lead).

With the emergence of COVID-19 as a pandemic, GIZ extended a support of approximately PKR 13 Million to procure COVID-19 response items to strengthen the testing capacity of COVID-19. These items included one COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing machine, COVID-19 testing kits (2500 automated Ribonucleic Acid (RNA)extraction Kits , 2500 COVID-19 RNA amplification kits , 200 cases of filter tips and 110 packs of PCR strips, and Personal Protective Equipment (500 packs of surgical masks and 6 units of air powered air purifying respirators).

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Dr. Zia Ul Haq, Vice Chancellor of Khyber Medical University extended his gratitude to the GIZ’s FATA Development Programme for its technical support to the Health Department, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He detailed about all the COVID-19 response items that KMU has procured keeping in mind the quality of the products through proper channels under government rules and regulations. He further added that “Today we are handing over these items to the Health Department KP through the Honourable Special Secretary Health.”  Dr. Zia also congratulated the Government of Pakistan and Government of Germany on the 70 years of Pakistan – Germany Cooperation and assured that KMU will continue to collaborate with GIZ in strengthening the Health system and capacitating the health sector in the Merged Areas to bring them at par with the rest of the province.

Dr. Amer Afaq, Special Secretary Health, appreciated the efforts of Prof. Zia ul Haq, who is leading the provincial fight against the pandemic. He stressed that the health department needs partners like GIZ to support us in strengthening the provincial capacities to tackle the current COVID-19 pandemic and to be prepared for any such unforeseen events in the future. He thanked the European Union (EU) and German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) for supporting the Health Department in strengthening their capacities over the years and the provision of COVID-19 response items when most needed.