NATO delivers ventilators to Albania
The Albanian Ministry of Defence received 60 ventilators from the NATO stockpile in response to the COVID-19 pandemic on Saturday, 17 October. The donation was coordinated by NATO’s Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC). Later this week the ventilators will be handed over to the Albanian Ministry of Health for distribution to hospitals.
Col. Edmond Voci, Albanian Military Attaché in Italy, and Maj. Bekim Murjia from Albania collect 60 ventilators from the NATO stockpile at the NSPA South Operational Centre in Taranto, Italy on 16 October
The ventilators will benefit patients in urgent need at the Mother Teresa University Hospital Centre and at the Shefqet Ndroqi Hospital in Tirana, as well as at the COVID 3 Hospital, which is currently completing construction.
The ventilators are part of a donation by the United States to the NATO stockpile. They were stored by the NATO Support and Procurement Agency in a warehouse facility at the NSPA South Operational Centre in Taranto, Italy and were shipped with commercial road transport to Albania on behalf of the Albanian Ministry of Defence. The assistance will be followed with additional medical supplies and equipment that will be delivered to Albania in the coming weeks.
NATO has established a stockpile of medical equipment in order to be able to provide immediate relief to Allies or partners in need. The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) is managing the purchase and storage of relief items for the stockpile. Several Allies have made financial and in-kind donations of medical equipment and supplies to the Pandemic Response Trust Fund, including ventilators from the United States and Hungary, and personal protective equipment from Germany.
Throughout October/November 2020 NATO Allies Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia are receiving dozens of ventilators and a total of around 1.5 million EUR in medical supplies through the Pandemic Response Trust Fund. This follows requests for assistance from the three countries to NATO’s Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre.