Singapore provides 10,000 COVID-19 test kits to Nepal

Singapore’s “Temasek Foundation” has provided 10,000 PCR test kits to Nepal for detecting COVID-19 cases. The kits will be deployed to frontline health workers to test patients all across the country, according to a report in Nepali Times. 

Called ‘Fortitude Kit 2.0’, the kits are designed by Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*START) to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The all-in-one 1-step RT-PCR kits come with all materials required for the reaction, which includes primer probes mix, enzyme mix, the positive control, negative control and internal control template.

“In these difficult times, Temasek Foundation stands in solidarity with our friends from Nepal,” said Benedict Cheong, CEO of Temasek Foundation International. “We hope these test kits will be helpful to hospitals and medical professionals who are bravely managing the COVID-19 situation in Nepal.”

The kits were flown from Singapore to Kathmandu on a special Shree Airlines CRJ 700 flight on Friday organised by Shekhar Golchha, Pashupati Murarka and Sudhir Mittal of Shree Airlines, and handed over to the Ministry of Health for distribution to hospitals across Nepal. Vijayendra Baral at Singapore General Hospital, and Ranjit Acharya and Neil Pande in Kathmandu facilitated the process.