German Ambassador H.E. Martin Kobler took the opportunity of his presence in Gilgit city to pay a visit to the Gilgit Regional Blood Centre on 9th July, 2018. He was accompanied by Ms. Marion Pfennigs, First Secretary and Mr. Keno Grade, Third Secretary from the German Embassy.
Secretary Health, Saeed Ullah Khan Niazi, National Coordinator SBTP, Prof. Hasan Abbas Zaheer, and RBC Manager, Dr. Abdul Latif received the German delegation in the RBC.
The Ambassador and his team visited the donation area, processing and screening laboratory, and was very impressed by the environment and working of the RBC. He appreciated the Secretary Health, National Coordinator and all team members for their efforts to ensure availability of safe blood to the citizens of Gilgit Baltistan. He was impressed by the cleanliness and high technological standards of RBC.
The RBC Manager informed the Ambassador that Gilgit RBC is among the 10 Regional Blood Centres constructed and equipped across the country by the German Development Bank (KfW) under the Pak- German Financial Cooperation in the Phase I of the project. The Gilgit RBC was inaugurated in June 2016, by the honourable Chief Minister of Gilgit Baltistan. The Centre has the capacity to process 20,000 blood donations per year and is supplying blood and blood components to the attached six hospital blood banks. In Phase II, the KfW will finance the construction of a modern Regional Blood Centre in Skardu (2017-19).
Continued interest of the German partners in the functioning of the new blood transfusion infrastructure is a sign of the commitment of the German government to see tangible benefit accruing to the general public through this flagship project. Such visits encourage the staff to strive for further improvements.
