Kathmandu, 24th April 2020
Temasek Foundation, a philanthropic organization under the Singapore investment company, Temasek, has provided 10,000 Fortitude Kit 2.0 to Nepal. The kits were supplied to the Nepal Army, which will be deployed by frontline health workers to test COVID-19 patients all across the country.
Singapore’s Agency designs fortitude Kit 2.0 for Science, Technology, and Research (A*START) to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This is an “All-in-One’ 1-step RT-PCR kit for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA. The kit comes complete with all the materials required for the RT-PCR reaction, which includes the primer probes mix, the enzyme mix, the positive control, negative control, and internal control template.
Mr. Benedict Cheong, Chief Executive of Temasek Foundation International, said, “In these difficult times, Temasek Foundation stands in solidarity with our friends from Nepal. We hope that these test kits will be helpful to the hospitals and medical professionals who are bravely managing the COVID-19 situation in Nepal. We will build on our on-going ties and continue to work with each other and with the international community.”
Temasek Foundation also extended its sincere gratitude to Nepal Government CCMC, Health Ministry, Civil Society members DrBijendraBaral, Ranjit Acharya, and Neil Pande for their coordination efforts. This couldn’t have been possible without the kind help of Shree Airlines and two generous private sector stalwarts MrPashupatiMurarka and MrShekharGolchha, who chartered the flight to carry the goods from Singapore.
Temasek Foundation had also helped Nepal to strengthen wall structures of public schools as part of disaster mitigation efforts back in 2014. The Foundation has been serving the nation in the time of need.
