PRISHTINA, Kosovo – The U.S. Embassy in Kosovo’s Office of Defense Cooperation donated a van to the Garment Sanitization Center (GSC) at the Health Center of the University Clinics of Kosovo (HCUCK) here Dec. 4.
Multinational Battle Group-East and Area Support Team-Balkans also donated approximately 60 sets of linen as part of a humanitarian assistance program started in 2009, which allows Soldiers to donate pillows, blankets and sheets.
Skender Peci, Garment Sanitization Center director, was thankful for the van and linen.
“We did not have a vehicle before, so it will help us transfer garments from the clinics to our center,” said Peci. “We have a need for sheets, covers and blankets at HCUCK, so we are grateful for the donation.”
Lt. Col. Bruce A. Murphy, Office of Defense Cooperation chief, explained that the van came from U.S. military the excess property warehouse in Livorno, Italy.
“It was shipped over last month as part of the U.S. Army European Command excess property program,” said Murphy.
Murphy explained that GSC did not have anything to transport clean garments in, so they would wheel soiled linen trolleys around the campus in rain, snow and sleet.
“When we assess needs in the country and we believe there is something we can assist with, we make a project and request it through the [European Command] excess property manager,” said Murphy.
Donated items, such as the van in questions, are declared excess and deemed to have fulfilled their usefulness within U.S. military system, but such items are still a great donation for nations in need, explained Murphy.
“Taking stuff that still has life and still has use to an agency or to an institution here in Kosovo is definitely going to help,” said Murphy.
Jennifer Bachus, deputy chief of mission for the U.S. Embassy in Prishtina, emphasized that the embassy’s and European Command’s dedication toward improving the conditions and care level at the HCUCK has been quite evident over the past several years.
“Just last December we completed phase two of the renovations of two wings at the surgical clinic and infectious disease clinic, with a value in excess of two million dollars,” said Bachus.
Earlier this year, MNBG-East Task Force Medical donated a mobile X-ray device to the orthopedic clinic, an ultrasound machine to the gynecology and obstetrics clinic at HCUCK, and an X-ray dental panoramic to a dental clinic in the Peja Family Medical Center.
The medical equipment donated to the several Kosovo institutions has been valued at approximately 500,000 dollars.