South Korea has donated emergency food packages and medical supplies to Mugda community and frontline nurses through its development agency, KOICA’s Covid-19 response programme.
The KOICA said on Monday they had provided 1,800 emergency food and hygiene packages as well as 3,000 personal protective equipment (PPEs) and medical supplies to the vulnerable communities as well as the frontline nurses of the capital’s Mugda area who have been hard-hit amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
A ceremony to handover the items was held on Monday at HR Bhaban, Kakrail with the presence of Saber Hossain Chowdhury MP and Lee Jang-keun, Ambassador-designate of South Korea to Bangladesh, and Country Director of KOICA Bangladesh Office Young-Ah Doh.
The Ambassador said the assistance is part of Korea’s effort “to fulfill this commitment and show our solidarity with Bangladesh in this time of unprecedented crisis”.
KOICA’s Country Director, Young-Ah Doh, reassured that ‘KOICA will stand by Bangladesh in its COVID-19 fight and will continue supporting the country in various sectors to curb the pandemic’, while MP Saber Hossain Chowdhury reassured their services for the people of Bangladesh as a whole and expressed their sincere gratitude to KOICA for its support.
The 1,800-emergency food and sanitary goods were inclusive of rice, lentil, semolina, soybean oil, sugar, salt, milk powder, antiseptic soaps, hand sanitizers, face masks, laundry soaps and toothpaste are aimed to assist marginalized households of Dhaka’s Mudga community whose livelihoods have been severely interrupted by the deadly pandemic.
While 3,000 PPEs and medical supplies are expected to enhance the working conditions of the heroic nurses who have emerged as frontline combatants risking their own lives.
The contribution also falls under follow-up support of KOICA’s project titled “Establishment of the National Institute of Advanced Practice Nurses in Bangladesh (NIANER)” - Bangladesh’s first-ever postgraduate nursing education institution with grant aid $13.75 million from 2013 to 2019.
Standing by the vulnerable community of Mugda and its nurses to further strengthen its capacity in battling Covid-19, the Korean government through KOICA, will continue its support to NIANER for its improved sustainability as the country’s only higher nursing education.
As a government aid agency of South Korea under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, KOICA implements Korea's grant aid and technical cooperation supporting socio-economic development.
