U.S. donates cots to PH OCD, PGH
HEALTH • 20:00 PM Fri Apr 10, 2020
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By:
Nash B. Maulana
Joining the Ambassador to receive the cots were Republic of the Philippines Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. and Undersecretary Ricardo Jalad, Administrator for the Office of Civil Defense.
MANILA — The U.S. government on Friday turned over to Philippine officials 1,300 cots in support to the country’s response to covid19 threat to public health.
United States. Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim said: "I'm pleased to be able to hand over these new cots, on behalf of the U.S. government, to our Philippine partners. We stand together with the Philippines, as both of our nations work to save lives and protect our people in the fight against COVID-19."
An Embassy statement said the U.S. government donated more than 1,100 cots to the Office of Civil Defense to aid COVID-19 patients. The Department of Health has also received from the U.S. donation package 150 cots for patients and frontline medical professionals of the Philippine General Hospital who are providing critical diagnosis, treatment, and healthcare services.
“Cot” (pronounced as kat) is a narrow single-sized bed, usually collapsible or foldable, similar to the “cot-on-board” used in navy.
The statement added that the cots were originally intended for the Balikatan 2020 Joint RP-US. Military exercise, but which has been cancelled, as earlier announced by the commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
In addition, the press statement said, the United States is also providing the Philippines nearly Php 204 million ($4 million) in health assistance package to help address the COVID-19 pandemic in Manila and around the country.
The statement added U.S. government’s assistance program supports several important efforts, including, laboratory system preparedness, case-finding and event-based surveillance, technical expert response and preparedness, risk communication, and infection prevention. These efforts complement ongoing assistance from the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Biological Threat Reduction Program.
Over the past 20 years, the United States has provided more than Php 29.5 billion ($582 million) in assistance to help strengthen and develop the Philippine health system. With reports from Nash B. Maulana