By Gladys Fred Kole
Ministry of Health has received mobile laboratory, screening, and quarantine/isolation health facilities donated by the EU and IGAD.
The newly constructed health facilities in Nimule and Wounthou border posts, together with the mobile laboratory and different equipment, were handed over to the Ministry of Health as part of the EU-funded EU-IGAD COVID-19 Response Project.
The project is supporting seven countries in the IGAD region to strengthen their healthcare systems.
In a joint press statement seen by this outlet yesterday, these facilities will improve healthcare for the communities in the bordering areas of South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda.
The isolation, quarantine, and screening facility in Nimule, for which the EU earmarked some 715,000 euros, has multiple rooms for medical personnel, examination and treatment of patients, and accompanying services in a total area of around 700 square meters.
In addition to serving as a health center for the South Sudan-Ugand border, it will also provide medical care to the people from the border areas of Nimule and Magwi County in South Sudan, Adjumani, and Elegu in Uganda.
Meanwhile, the Wounthou Screening and Quarantine Facility for taking care of patients before referral, whose construction the EU funded with 1,150,000 euros, has ten rooms with beds within the quarantine building.
It is also composed of the screening area and different auxiliary buildings, according to the joint statement.
It is specified that it will serve the population in the border areas between Sudan and South Sudan.
The health facilities in Nimule, Wounthou, and nearby Renk Hospital are provided with furniture and medical equipment valued at 232,300 euros.
This activity was part of the project’s objective to strengthen the health care systems in the IGAD region and mitigate the health and socio-economic impact of COVID-19 as part of the European Union’s continued support.
The project also donated a mobile laboratory worth 167,000 euros to be used in cross-border and remote areas, but it will also serve South Sudan according to need. This will help health workers reach out to the patients’ sites.
“Beneficiaries of the lab are people at the cross-border areas, truck drivers in main truck stop/parking areas, people crossing the border in case of mass population movement or displacement, e.g., refugees and host communities, internally