DM Monitoring
SUVA: China on Monday donated medical supplies to Fiji to help the South Pacific island nation fight against COVID-19.
Speaking at the handover ceremony of the medical supplies, Chinese Ambassador to Fiji Qian Bo said the Chinese government donated 300,000 U.S. dollars cash to the Fijian government to support its combat against COVID-19.
Qian handed 52 carton boxes of medical supplies with a total value of about 270,000 Fijian dollars (about 119,880 U.S. dollars) to further support Fiji’s effort in going through the pandemic.
He said all those medical supplies will serve critical roles in protecting frontier medical staff, and identifying potential cases, so as to contribute to the medical capacity development in fighting the pandemic.
The ambassador stressed that the virus is a common enemy to all mankind. China and Fiji have a stake in each other’s well-being and should stay united and work together.
“In the midst of all this crisis, humanity is still very strong and for that we are truly grateful to the People’s Republic of China for you officials and for the many other organizations within China that are supporting the fight in Fiji and also the Pacific,” said Fiji’s Minister for Health and Medical Services Ifereimi Waqainabete.
Waqainabete said the donation from China will further strengthen Fiji’s fight against the virus and also enhance the strong development partnership with China.
“Going forward, this pandemic will only make us stronger and also grant us the ability to share expertise between Fiji and China.”
The minister also told Xinhua that he congratulated China for its good work to contain the COVID-19 and the expertise China has shared with the countries such as Fiji.
As for how China and Fiji can strengthen its cooperation in the field of health, especially in the battle against this deadly virus, he said the two countries connect in many ways in terms of health.
“This is not the first time we have health support from China. We had some of our health staff for training in China, and we have had some visits from China to our hospitals and health centers.”
