Five ECG machines and personal protective equipment for frontline medical workers, financed by the Kingdom of Norway and procured by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in BiH, were delivered on Monday, 4 May 2020, to the Public Health Institute of Republika Srpska.
“This donation means a lot to us, especially in the situation like this when it is very difficult to find, procure and transport necessary equipment” said Branislav Zeljković, acting director of the Public Health Institute of Republika Srpska. “This will positively affect medical workers across all medical institutions”.
ECG machines will be installed in the University Clinical Center of the Republika Srpska in Banja Luka, while the protective equipment will be distributed to hospitals and other medical institutions.
“I am pleased that the Norwegian Embassy, through reallocating funds for bilateral cooperation, was able to respond quickly to urgent request for assistance from the local authorities. It is good to see the equipment has now been delivered and will be valuable contribution to the efforts of the Public Health Institute of Republika Srpska to tackle the current crisis. The global pandemic affects all of us. We are in this together” said Siri Andersen, Chargé d’Affaires of the Norwegian Embassy in BiH.
Purchase of the ECG machines is part of fight against COVID-19 pandemic for which the Kingdom of Norway has already set aside around BAM 1.3 million.
So far, the Kingdom of Norway has, among other things, funded the procurement of protective equipment for medical workers in Herzegovina-Neretva and for institutions under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Labor, Social Policy, Displaced Persons and Refugees of Sarajevo Canton, as well as ECG devices for University of Sarajevo Clinical Centre. The Kingdom of Norway also provided funds for the procurement of six ventilators for clinical facilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
All necessary equipment and supplies are being procured based on the agreement signed between the Embassy of Kingdom of Norway to BiH and UNDP on March 26th 2020 in order to jointly respond to the coronavirus pandemic. As part of the United Nations efforts in BiH, UNDP has been intensively working to support the relevant domestic institutions through coordination of assistance and provision of necessary resources, since the declaration of the state of emergency.
