US Embassy Donates Test Kits and PPE to the Health Ministry

On Friday, the U.S. Embassy donated test kits and personal protection equipment to the Health Ministry of Georgia. US Ambassador Kelly Degnan and Georgian Health Minister Ekaterine Tikaradze welcomed the arrival of the equipment together.

The materials, as the US Embassy reports, will be used to conduct 4,000 gold-standard RT-PCR tests, donated by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency donated almost $20,000 worth of personal protective equipment (PPE) to the Ministry of Health, also arrived today. “The donation of these testing kits, procured from the U.S. company Thermo Fisher, as well as the PPE, will significantly improve Georgia’s ability to increase COVID-19 testing and help to control the spread of the virus,” writes the Embassy.

“It was a real pleasure to be here today with Minister Tikaradze for the arrival of this very sophisticated testing equipment and the accompanying materials, that include 4,000 of these “gold standard” PCR testing units.  The purpose of these, besides being very accurate, is that it will increase Georgia’s ability to test, and testing is going to save lives, it is going to help Georgia be able to reopen its economy sooner because we are only at the half-time of this game.  There is still a lot that we need to see as we open the economies around the world.  We need to keep our resistance up.  We need to continue to follow the restrictions.  These testing kits, the personal protection equipment that DTRA donated here today, and has donated to other Ministries, is very important to protecting people – masks, gloves, gowns – so that we can continue to engage, but safely and keeping our family, our loved ones, safe and get back to work fully.  So I’m very happy to be here,” Ambassador Degnan was quoted saying. 

The US Ambassador also assessed the Georgian government’s response to the coronavirus in her remark, saying that the country has done “an excellent job on the first half of the game."

“I think Georgia has done an excellent job on the first half of the game, and now we’re going into a very delicate period, and I know they are doing their best to be prepared for that, as well,” noted the US Ambassador.

By Nini Dakhundaridze

Photo: US Embassy Tbilisi