Shama (Lebanon) - The laboratories of the Tire and Bint Jbeil hospitals, among the most important health centers in Southern Lebanon, also have two new modern equipment for analyzing swabs, necessary and indispensable tools for ascertaining cases of positivity to the COVID-19.
The machinery was donated by the Italian contingent of Unifil, the United Nations Interposition Force deployed in Southern Lebanon, during a symbolic ceremony in which the commander of the Italian contingent, General Andrea Di Stasio, the mayor of Tire, took part. , Hassan Mohammed Nabouq, the mayor of Bint Jbeil, Afif Bazzi, and medical staff of the government hospitals of the two municipalities. In addition to the instrumentation, 600 diagnostic kits were donated as part of the civil-military cooperation projects promoted by the contingent for the fight against the Coronavirus emergency in the south of the country.
The equipment, purchased with funds from the Italian Ministry of Defense, is based on the molecular polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method, developed on the basis of the genetic sequence of the Sars-Cov-2 virus. The swab is sent to a specialized laboratory and, thanks to this kind of equipment, it will be possible to confirm or not the presence of the virus, and then proceed with the isolation of infected people.
The doctors and the first citizens of Tire and Bint Jbeil expressed their unanimous thanks to the Italian contingent and in particular to Italy, not only for the usual closeness to the Lebanese people, but also for the timeliness of the donation, the result of effective coordination between the local political and health authorities, the civil-military cooperation specialists of the Italian contingent of Unifil and the Joint Forces Operations Command of the Defense Staff in Rome.
Assistance to the Lebanese government, together with monitoring the cessation of hostilities and support for the Lebanese armed forces, is one of the tasks assigned to the Italian contingent of Unifil in compliance with UN Security Council resolution 1701.
