Expert delegation of the German Robert Koch Institute pays five-day visit to Montenegro

An expert delegation of the National Institute of Public Health of Germany Robert Koch is paying a five-day working visit to Montenegro. In a joint mission of the Robert Koch Institute, the Ministry of Health of Montenegro, the Institute of Public Health, initiated by the German Institute in cooperation with the World Health Organization Office in Montenegro, the expert team will work together to strengthen the capacity of the Montenegrin health system in the fight against COVID-19.

ʺIt is a great pleasure and honor for me to inform the Montenegrin public that today we hosted a team of experts from the Robert Koch Institute, senior experts in the field of epidemiology. They will stay in Montenegro in the coming days and help us to jointly look at the whole epidemiological situation, and give us the most modern recommendations related to epidemiological surveillance,ʺ said the Minister of Health, Dr. Jelena Borovinić Bojović.

She pointed out that their visit aims to overcome the problems and help us to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Minister Borovinić Bojović said that Germany has shown again a very high degree of solidarity with our country. She also took the opportunity to thank the German Ambassador, Mr. Rober Weber, for contributing to this visit.

The Head of the Robert Koch Institute delegation, Dr. Andreas Jansen, said that we all learned a simple lesson from this pandemic - we will stop its spread only if we fight side by side.

ʺWe came here with a relatively large team, ten members of the delegation from the National Institute of Public Health of Germany Robert Koch. There are also representatives of the Charité University Hospital, the largest clinic in Europe, in our delegation. Our task during this week in Montenegro is to find solutions together with colleagues from your country, to exchange experiences, in order to find the best way to combat the COVID-19 pandemic,ʺ said Dr. Jansen.

The German Ambassador to Montenegro, Dr. Robert Weber, assessed that the German expert delegation came at crucial moment for Montenegro.

ʺWe certainly have a decline in newly infected people in the country and we should definitely support this trend. This is especially important because Montenegro is now preparing for a very significant upcoming tourist season. All possible measures should be implemented to make tourism safe in Montenegro. This is certainly in the best interest of Montenegro, since Montenegro's economic development also depends on tourism. The delegation will look at the whole situation in Montenegro and devise all possible necessary steps in order to bring the pandemic under control as much as possible,ʺ the German Ambassador pointed out.

The Head of Country Office at World Health Organization, Dr. Mina Brajović, pointed out that the five-day expert visit of colleagues from the Robert Koch Institute and the World Health Organization will further strengthen national capacities to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

ʺThis visit is extremely important, because, among other things, it reminds us that partnership, solidarity, cooperation and science are the backbone and foundation of an effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as all our efforts to save the lives and health of our citizens,ʺ said Dr. Brajović.

Brajović said that the visit will be an opportunity to see the basic preconditions for establishing a health crisis centre, for the first time in Montenegro.

The Robert Koch Institute team also includes experts from the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and the Centre for International Health Protection (ZIG), as well as intensive care specialists from Charité University Hospital and senior infectious disease experts from the Department of Infectious Diseases at St. Joseph's Hospital in Berlin. The visit of the German delegation aims to exchange experience and knowledge in the fields of epidemiological surveillance, epidemiology, clinical management, infection prevention and control and laboratory diagnostics.