Bogotá received the second donation from the Republic of Korea to strengthen post covid-19 care. The 4.5 million dollars will be used to provide a unit for post covid-19 recovery at the Engativá Hospital, to broaden understanding from a medical standpoint and to strengthen the logistics capacity for vaccination. The preparation of a CONPES document to address the effects of the pandemic was also announced.
The Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Colombia and the Colombian Ministry of Health and Social Protection signed a memorandum of understanding for the implementation of the second phase of Project “Korea - Colombia COVID-19 Response Center.” the initiative hopes to have the technical supervision of the city’s Mayor, Claudia López, since the main beneficiary will be the Engativá Hospital.
During the event, in which Mayor Claudia López thanked the Republic of Korea and KOICA for this donation, the decision to prepare a public health policy document CONPES to address the aftermath of the pandemic was also announced.
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"The city must be left with a medium and long-term roadmap of how we must prepare ourselves, for what kind of contingencies, diseases and sequelae, how we must prepare our medical personnel, our public and private health network, and how we must join efforts to provide timely, preventive and curative care," said the mayor.
This signature will not only bring in a generous donation of $4.5 million dollars on behalf of Korea and KOICA, but it will also provide the Engativá Hospital with a unit for post-COVID recovery; access to their wealth of knowledge and experience during the pandemic; and the tightening of vaccine deployment this campaign.
In this regard, the director of the Korea International Cooperation Agency - KOICA, Seungchul Lee, summarized the agency's support to COVID in three aspects:
- Support with protective equipment and training for personnel.
- Expansion of the capacity of intensive care units with 40 units equipped
- Increased detection capacity with laboratory equipment required for PCR testing.
For his part, the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea in Colombia, Jong Youn Choo, affirmed that "this COVID-19 calamity made us realize that the whole world is totally connected and that solidarity is the most important element to face unexpected challenges. For these reasons, between strategic partners like Colombia and Korea, much more cooperation and solidarity are needed. The world is one and we have to treasure this phrase: No one is safe until everyone is safe".
The resources of the donation will be operated by the Pan American Health Organisation, Engativá Hospital will be the main beneficiary and the project will have the support of the Institute of Technological Evaluation in Health (IETS), the Ministry of Health and the District Secretariat of Health.
The project will be carried out jointly, for one year, between August 2021 and July 2022. This period includes the phases of operation, financial execution, and an evaluation period.
"We want to thank very specially the Korean Government for their support and for placing Colombia in such an important place in their international cooperation. We are honored and feel a true brotherhood between the two nations, we have a very special relationship and a sense of teamwork," said Fernando Ruiz, Minister of Health.
The Republic of Korea and KOICA have been integral allies in the fight against COVID-19 in Bogotá with multiple generous donations in the range of $10 million dollars. The first of which came to the tune of $5 million dollars, with which the expansion of Engativá Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit was achieved, the diagnostic capacity was improved and human talent in health was strengthened.
With this second donation, all those who were left with the sequelae of the virus are expected to receive more specialised attention. Not to mention the support with the dissemination of the lessons learned from facing COVID-19, and the vaccination campaign in the city.
"I want to congratulate Bogotá for thinking about a post-cooling strategy; this is an absolutely relevant issue for the health of Bogotá and Colombia people", said Minister Ruiz.
