On Thursday, 16 September 2021, the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, Mr. Matthias Schauer, handed over five ventilators to Dr. Rosemary Byanyima, Deputy Executive Director of the Mulago National Referral Hospital and Dr. Celestine Barigye, Director Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital.
The ventilators donated are part of the German government-supported Hospital Partnerships initiative between Arbeitsgemeinschaft Notfallmedizin Fürth (Institute for Emergency Medical Education) and Makerere University College of Health Science. Mulago National Referral Hospital and Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital are part of this partnership.
The devices worth Shs407.5 million (98,150 EUR) are meant to boost the country’s response to Covid-19 and provide life-saving oxygen to Covid-19 patients. This donation comes as part of a wider support to assist Uganda in managing this crisis, containing the risk of a further spread of the pandemic and mitigate the longer-term effects of Covid-19 pandemic through various clinic partnerships and ongoing development programs.
While Covid-19 diagnostic, prevention and treatment is crucial, the only promising way to overcome the pandemic are vaccinations. In this light Germany has provided 2.2 billion EUR to the multilateral platform COVAX which aims to distribute vaccines free of charge to developing countries. Uganda has already received 1.6 million doses of vaccine through this channel.
During the handing over of the equipment, Ambassador Matthias Schauer underlined the continued support Germany is giving to Uganda in managing the pandemic and containing the risk of a further spread of the virus.
