Today, the Charitable Organization "Medical Aid Committee in Zakarpattia" handed over a new biosafety box to the Transcarpathian Regional Public Health Center. The equipment has already been used for testing for coronavirus by a polymerase chain reaction

“Just two weeks ago, we asked sponsors to help us with the purchase of a Class II biosafety box, which allows more effective PCR analysis and protects our employees. Prior to that, we had only one equipped workplace, now we can perform daily tests twice as fast. We did not even expect such an immediate reaction from our sponsors, which became the charity organization «Medical Care Committee in Zakarpattia». It was they who found investors to finance the much-needed equipment for our Center. The box has already been installed and the first studies have been conducted,” said the acting director of the Transcarpathian Regional Public Health Center Victoria Bilak-Lukyanchuk.

The box received ensures a separate workplace for the laboratory assistant, where PCR testing is performed for coronavirus and other infectious diseases (hepatitis, HIV, TORCH infections, urogenital infections, neuroinfections, etc.). Thus, the box will be constantly used, regardless of the course of the coronavirus pandemic. According to Victoria Bilak-Lukyanchuk, previously the laboratory conducted 50 to 100 tests per day. “We are talking about irregular working hours when our laboratory assistants worked from 7 a.m. to late at night. Now it will take twice less time or, if necessary, we will be able to perform twice as many tests,” the official added.

“We heard about the need for an additional cabinet of the Public Health Center and addressed our foreign partners, namely the network «Switzerland - Transcarpathia - Ukraine». The Swiss partners, who had previously helped with the purchase of personal protective equipment for doctors, demonstrated their readiness and financed the purchase of this box. The purpose of our organization and its long-term systematic work is aimed at supporting the state and society in those areas where it is needed. Constant contact with our partners and a plenty of jointly implemented projects has led to the level of trust that contributes to the rapid, and therefore the timely arrangement of urgent issues,” - said the project coordinator of the CO «CAMZ» Lesya Levko.

Nataliya Kabatsiy, Director of the Medical Aid Committee in Zakarpattia, noted that the charitable organization has been operating for over 20 years, and the projects implemented during this period have had positive results far beyond the region.

“These projects are aimed both at human rights protection and at assistance to the medical and social spheres. Given the situation, we are now looking for opportunities together with our partners to help those who provide a diagnosis of COVID-19 and are directly involved in the treatment of patients. Obviously, these needs are on time, they need to be addressed. Our partners are aware of the situation in Zakarpattia and Ukraine, so their positive response to our request was quite prompt. European countries are proving by their own example the effectiveness of testing as a means of preventing the spread of coronavirus. We hope that our help will be useful for this,” - Nataliya Kabatsiy said.

An additional biosafety box has been already installed at the Transcarpathian Regional Public Health Center. Today, the first PCR tests were performed on the new equipment.