Download logoThe Ministry of Health received medical commodities from the government of China through China Aid and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
The event was held on Thursday at the ministry’s premises.
Receiving the equipment, the Minister of Health, Mr. Semano Sekatle thanked both the government of China and UNFPA for such generous donations as they will contribute to saving lives.
Mr. Sekatle said the donations came at the right time after the COVID-19 Pandemic, saying contraceptives and reproductive health are important to the ministry.
However, the minister mentioned that the ministry is still in need of medical equipment to provide Basotho with the best health services in the country.
When handing over the Equipment, the UNFPA Representative, Dr Marc Derveeuw said this is part of the project which was developed with the government of China and the Ministry of Health to help the government of Lesotho at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr Derveeuw said at the emergence of COVID-19, they saw that the Health systems were struggling with PPEs equipment hence decided to assist the government, especially with the preventive equipment for midwives to enable them to continue with services, particularly in maternity but also to make an act of budgetary relief for the procurement of contraceptives.
He mentioned that they are handing over equipment that included concentrators, saying this is only the symbolic handing over.
He noted that this is the first collaboration project for UNFPA and the embassy of China, saying it is very important and marks the start of future collaboration.
In conclusion, he said this was a budget relief which enables the government to reduce its procurement of contraceptives, expressing hope that the government will continue to speed up the procurement of the contraceptive.
The Ambassador of China, Mr. Lei Kezhong said this batch of medical assistance is a total value of half a million US dollars provided by the government of China to Lesotho through UNFPA.
Mr. Kezhong said the objectives of this medical assistance are to increase the availability of medical supplies such as PPEs for medical workers, increase the availability of sexual and reproductive health commodities and accumulative availability of life-saving devices.
He thanked the UNFPA for its efforts and contributions in collaborating with the government of China in assisting the government of Lesotho.
He mentioned that this is for the second time since his arrival in Lesotho that China provided much-needed assistance to Lesotho in partnership with the United Nations (UN) agencies, saying their partnerships have made it possible to provide better assistance to Lesotho.
He promised that China will continue to stand together with Lesotho in strengthening the economic and social development of Lesotho in the betterment of the well-being of Basotho.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Government of Lesotho.
