KOICA Supports 260 K-Negative Pressure Carriers to 9 Countries... Co-Growth with SMEs

Increasing Product Utilization Through Remote Video Training for Developing Country Workforce

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] KOICA announced on the 3rd that it will support 260 Korean-style negative pressure carriers to 9 developing countries to strengthen their COVID-19 response capabilities.

KOICA plans to provide 127 and 133 negative pressure carriers respectively in two phases to Cambodia, Mongolia, Ethiopia, C?te d'Ivoire, Mozambique, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Kyrgyzstan. The first phase support of 127 units has already been delivered, and the second phase of 133 units is scheduled to be provided by the end of the year.

This support of negative pressure carriers was carried out as part of the Korean government's 'Development Cooperation Initiative for a Safe World Together (ODA KOREA: Building TRUST)' under KOICA's ABC program.

The negative pressure carrier is equipment for transporting infectious and suspected infectious patients that integrates isolation and transport functions. It maintains the space where the patient is located at a negative pressure lower than atmospheric pressure to block secondary spread through the leakage of contaminated air such as viruses, while enabling stable and rapid movement of the patient.

KOICA is conducting remote video training for local hospitals and health authorities in the recipient countries to ensure that the negative pressure carriers are used smoothly and maintained properly in developing countries.

Meanwhile, the negative pressure carriers supported by KOICA are products developed by Ootsam, a small and medium-sized enterprise located in Osong, Chungbuk. They were designated as an 'Excellent Developed Innovative Product' introduced in 2020 by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to expand public procurement linkage for innovative technology development products. Additionally, on the 23rd of last month, they won the grand prize, the Presidential Award, at the '1st Innovation Procurement Competition' hosted by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Public Procurement Service.

Park Jae-shin, Director of KOICA's Asia Business Strategy Headquarters, said, “KOICA has rapidly supported K-quarantine supplies to respond to COVID-19, including not only negative pressure carriers but also 159 walk-through booths to 26 developing countries. This support is also evaluated as an excellent case of win-win growth, where KOICA, conducting international development cooperation projects, quickly reviewed the demand for K-quarantine products in developing countries and secured overseas markets for our SMEs.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.