On June 23, a round table was held to mark the completion of the GIZ Developpp-supported project “COVID 19 – Updating and sustainably improving patient / staff safety and hospital hygiene in Kosovo.” The panel included the Deputy Minister of Health, Dr. Dafina Gexha-Bunjaku, and Mrs. Vera Baumann, Head of the Cabinet for Development Cooperation at the German Embassy in Kosovo. Dr. Gexha-Bunjaku stated that hospital hygiene practices are a Ministry of Health priority, for which they have realized collaborations with the Institute of Public Health in Germany during the pandemic. She commended project partners for their assistance to public health institutions during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Baumann stated that the project, which was initiated by a group of Kosovar and German partners, has been beneficial in terms of providing opportunities for public health sector in Kosovo to understand their role and challenges in dealing with the pandemic.

Dr. rer. medic. Petrit Beqiri, project leader, emphasized the partners’ and GIZ’s quick response to launch this project, which enabled the transfer of advanced knowledge about hygiene practices to institutions in Kosovo, recognizing the urgent need to support public hospital clinics during the pandemic crisis. The project’s key results and findings were revealed during the event by nursing expert Prof. Ass. Dr. Naime Brajshori and scientific researcher Mrs. Shegë Bahtiri from the Institute of Southeast Europe for Health and Social Policy. Prof. Ass. Dr. Bernard Tahirbegolli, a public health expert, shared with the participants the hospital hygiene curriculum developed within the framework of this project, which will be made available for future training for health professionals in the Republic of Kosovo.

Mr. David Oberhuber, Director of GIZ in Kosovo, and Mr. Sebastian Krull, GIZ representative in Germany, were also present at the roundtable.

The project’s main participants and beneficiaries were the regional hospitals of Kosovo and UCCK, as well as other health professionals who participated in trainings and other activities over the course of a year and a half.

Representatives from regional hospitals and UCCK will also benefit from the project’s Medical Packages, which include equipment, tools, and a protocol developed specifically for this project to support the imp-lementation of hygienic knowledge and practices for patient and staff safety.