Protective equipment and rapid Covid-19 test kits donated by St. Georg Hospital in Germany’s Leipzig City will be transported to Vietnam in late August - PHOTO: VNA

HCMC - St. Georg Hospital in Leipzig City of Germany's Sachsen State will provide protective equipment and rapid Covid-19 test kits worth a total of 60,000 euros to Vietnam to support the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic in HCMC.

This is the second time that St. Georg Hospital is donating medical supplies to Vietnam following the suggestion of Vietnamese Ambassador to Germany Nguyen Minh Vu.

During a recent trip to Leipzig City, Vu spoke about the complicated developments of Covid-19 in Vietnam, especially in HCMC, where thousands of new infections are detected each day.

He called on the Leipzig City government and local agencies and organizations to support Vietnam in the fight against the pandemic.

Dr. Iris Minde, director of St. Georg Hospital, said joint efforts were required to fight the pandemic. Therefore, the hospital immediately mobilized the medical supplies, including face masks, protective gear and rapid test kits from local medical centers, hospitals and organizations to donate them to Vietnam.

The program was supported by the Economic Promotion Agency and the International Cooperation Department of Leipzig City. The medical supplies will be transported to Vietnam late this month.

Leipzig City will also help Vietnam buy other medical equipment directly from the manufacturers.

Leipzig and HCMC have established sister relationship and the two cities have developed strong cooperative relations in multiple fields.

St. Georg Hospital in Leipzig and Military Hospital 175 in HCMC have been close partners for many years with various exchange programs.

Burkhard Jung, mayor of Leipzig City, spoke highly of the effective cooperation between St. Georg Hospital and Military Hospital 175 and pledged to support the joint projects of the two hospitals in the future.

In related news, the World University Service (WUS) announced on August 4 that the second batch of Covid-19 relief for Vietnam will arrive in HCMC on August 9.

According to Dr. Kambiz Ghawami, chairman of the WUS, the relief comprises more than 203,000 rapid Covid-19 test kits worth 598,000 euros. They were donated by Hessen State, Messer Group and the WUS.