COVID-19: De Beers in-kind testing machine valued at P1.7m
Staff Writer | Wednesday April 29, 2020 18:23
DeBeers says the highly sought-after testing machine is valued at P1.7 million, which will form part of the De Beers Group’s in-kind support for government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The machine, which is a QIAGEN EZ1 Advanced XL instrument is being installed at the National Health Laboratory in Gaborone, and will play a vital role in supporting Botswana’s COVID-19 testing programme, it said in a statement.
It performs fully automated nucleic acid purification and enables approximately 150 tests per day. The machine, manufactured in Germany, has been designed to ensure high process safety, high performance and user convenience.
“We are proud to stand side by side with our partners in the fight against the global COVID-19 pandemic. While financial support is crucial, we also recognise that sourcing key equipment at times of heightened global demand is hugely important, and we are delighted to have been able to secure this machine on behalf of the people of Botswana. We will continue to work with government to understand how else we can support the critical work focused on keeping Botswana’s citizens safe and well,” Bruce Cleaver, De Beers Group CEO said.
Receiving the machine on behalf of the government, Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Lemogang Kwape expressed gratitude for the donation and stressed that it will be centrally important for reducing test result turnaround times. “This machine will indeed assist in getting more people tested and we are grateful to the De Beers Group for the support,” Kwape said.