Dear Jatin

Many thanks for your e-mail and follow up. We are about to finalize selection of the Project Implementation Unit staff which will be in charge of managing all donor supported programs. I would be happy to follow up on next steps as needed.

Best

Tamar

Dear First Minister Gabunia and Deputy Minister Gagua,

Hope you are doing well.  I am writing with respect to the mail below.  Is there any chance we can have an update please?  On our side, the note has been finalised and awaiting approval in the next few days.  Please do not hesitate to contact Francesca directly if you require any additional help or information.

Kind regards,

Jatin

Dear First Minister Gabunia and Deputy Minister Gagua,

While awaiting the appointment of the officials within the Ministry of Health responsible for the management of the disbursement process from your side, I am sending you in attachment the list of conditions precedent (“CPs”) to be fulfilled prior to disbursement, along with EIB’s comments.

We plan to start the CPs collection as soon as possible, and in parallel with the Finance Contract amendment, in order to save time and speed up the process.

We of course remain at your disposal should you need any information or clarification.

Dear Jatin

This is an interim email to address your questions below:

1.       Procurement plan –to be developed, would be helpful to have some initial feedback on what can realistically be covered within the project e.g. construction of the new building for the Central republican hospital, equipping the hospital, Refurbishment of the Lisi hospital to convert it into the main National Infectious Disease Hospital. Equipment for Lisi hospital.

2.       The ministry organogram is attached

3.       The ministry will be establishing the project implementation unit within the WB supported project. Staff will be recruited within the next 30 days. Meanwhile please address me with questions as needed.

4.       Donor support includes:

·         Loan Agreement : Emergency COVID-19 Response Project between GEORGIA and INTERNATIONAL BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT [Total 73 mln Euros]

28 million Euros for the following activities

·         Assistance in the provision of urgent efforts to slow down and limit the spread of COVID-19 through:

(a) supporting Georgia’s health sector by strengthening disease surveillance systems and epidemiological capacities of selected public health laboratories to facilitate early detection and confirmation of COVID-19 cases by increasing overall testing capacity and expanding the availability of critical medical supplies and equipment; and

(b) strengthening the preparedness planning and clinical care capacity of Georgia’s health systems through inter alia, establishing specialized care units, increasing availability of isolation facilities, increasing availability of critical medical supplies, equipment, and other related goods, and mobilizing additional resources to public and private health care facilities for effective management of cases including non-severe cases and ensuring readiness for forthcoming COVID-19 cases and treatment. 

·         USAID/WHO 600 000 USD Providing PPEs, Laboratory equipment and supplies, Technical Assistance and training.

·         Asia Development Bank grant 400000 USD : Procuring COBAS 6800 for PCR testing-Under consideration

·         European Commission: Primary Care Facilities in Rural Georgia (basic furniture and equipment) telemedicine tentatively, TA and trainings 4.5 million Euros

·         US CDC technical assistance, training and laboratory capacity building

·         Small donations/grants for PPEs and laboratory test kits, provider capacity building  

5.       Rukhi clinic has been included into the WB Emergency COVID-19 Response Project

6.       I believe Niko will address this point.

With kind regards

Tamar Gabunia

Dear First Deputy Minister of Health Gabunia,

I hope you are doing well.  Just to let you know that we are moving with the initial appraisal prior to progressing with the disbursement.  As such, I shall be grateful if you could provide the following information:

1.                   Indicative procurement plan – I am included a spreadsheet that you can use for this.  If there is a need for special derogation for single or negotiated sourcing of any of the equipment, please provide a written statement to support the rationale (emergency, exceptional circumstances or other special issues).

2.                   Please provide us with an organigram of the Ministry of Health, including names and specific roles and responsibilities.

3.                   Please provide a senior contact person who will be dealing with this project on a day to day basis to deal with queries and responses.

4.                   Please also provide a very brief overview what the other IFIs are doing with regards to the COVID19 response (this needs to be very brief with a few lines).  This is to show that we are complementing each other.

5.                   Please provide a few lines on the rationale of the Rukhi clinic requirements.

6.                   Since we shall be reprogramming the loan and progress on a fast track basis.  We would request a letter for the allocation of the loan.  In short, please let us know in how many tranches you want us to disburse the EUR 100m.  This should be supported by the usage of the equipment and also an implementation timeline.

If you want to have a call to discuss the above please kindly let me know.

Kind regards

Jatin

Dear Jatin

Many thanks for your follow up and providing the list of eligible items. As agreed we’ve put together a brief outline of the COVID19 response reflecting roles of all involved agencies. This paper also includes description of estimated immediate needs for strengthening health system’s capacity for COVID19 response. Attached are the list of hospital equipment for newly built hospitals which has to be equipped and operationalized within the next few weeks; And the list of commodities based on WHO Geo office estimates.

With guidance from MOF and yourself, we are ready to work further for developing the specific proposal.  

With kind regards

პატივისცემით,

თამარ გაბუნია

მინისტრის პირველი მოადგილე

Sincerely,

Tamar Gabunia, MD, MPH

First Deputy Minister

Dear Deputy First Minister Gabunia,

I hope this mail greets well. 

I know that you must be very busy and  just wanted to provide you with an updated list (this is subject to change) so that it can help you in providing the documentation to us.

Kind regards,

Jatin

Dear Jatin

Many thanks for this e-mail. I will proceed as advices and get back to you with the completed form.

პატივისცემით,

თამარ გაბუნია

მინისტრის პირველი მოადგილე

Sincerely,

Tamar Gabunia, MD, MPH

First Deputy Minister

Dear First Deputy Minister of Health Gabunia,

I trust this mail reaches you well.  Further to my mail below, I will be much obliged if you could use the appended excel sheet to compile the file of CAPEX requirement for the COVID19 response as this will enable us to process the file quicker at our end.

Our Head of Office in Tbilisi, Mr. Czura, will contact your offices shortly to arrange a follow up call so that we can further discuss and move forward on a fast track basis your requirements.

With my best regards,

Jatin

From: SEEJORE Jatin
Sent: Thursday 26 March 2020 23:31
To: 'tgabunia@moh.gov.ge' <tgabunia@moh.gov.ge>; 'n.gagua@mof.ge' <n.gagua@mof.ge>
Cc: RINALDI Francesca <F.RINALDI@eib.org>; CZURA Maciej <m.czura@eib.org>; RYBACKI Rafal <r.rybacki@eib.org>; DE OLIVEIRA FERNANDES Sara Margarida <s.deoliveirafernandes@eib.org>
Subject: EIB - COVID19 Response

Dear First Deputy Minister of Health Gabunia and Deputy Finance Minister Gagua,

Thank you very much for giving us your time today and for the fruitful discussion.  We take note of your immediate and medium to long term requirements to ensure the protection and safety of the population of Georgia and also the resilience of your healthcare system in this difficult context.  Please rest assured that we shall commence to work on the possible solutions to ensure an effective and swift response.  In the meantime and in order to move things faster, I append a list of current eligible equipment (this may be subject to change) that would benefit from the EIB emergency assistance COVID19 response.  I would kindly request that you start to draw of programme of activities that you will require this financing by providing the following information:

1.       Brief description of investment needs, timeline and implementation schedule;

2.       A breakdown of the equipment or equivalent works required or programme that will require funding (for example, beds, ventilators, hospital extension construction);

3.       Proposed procurement method to be used;

4.       A statement that this investment forms part of the national response to the COVID19 pandemic in Georgia with the public as the main beneficiary (i.e. population of Georgia);

5.       A statement of resource adequacy to show that there is enough staff available for the emergency response and where applicable provide details of emergency staff training requirements.

The above information will enable us to proceed with a fast appraisal.  We shall work on the possible i) EUR 100m disbursement for immediate usage and ii) a framework loan of EUR 100m for the construction/refurbishment of a hospital both as part of the COVID19 EIB response programme. 

Our office will be sending a formal letter tomorrow for the attention of the Minister of Finance to express EIB’s solidarity and support to Georgia in this difficult context.  Together with our local office, we look forward to work alongside you and support you on the above projects. 

In the meantime, please feel free to contact me for any additional information that you may require. 

With my best regards,

Jatin      

Jatin Seejore

European Investment Bank

98-100, Boulevard Konrad Adenauer

L-2950 Luxembourg

Tel.:   (+352) 437 988 440

Mob : (+352) 691 286 917

Fax:   (+352) 437 959 121

Email: j.seejore@eib.org

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The information in this message and/or attachments is intended solely for
the attention and use of the named addressee and may be confidential. If
you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you have
received this transmittal in error and that any use of it is prohibited. In
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reservees a l'attention et a l'utilisation de leur destinataire et peuvent etre
confidentielles. Si vous n'etes pas destinataire de ce message, vous etes
informes que vous l'avez recu par erreur et que toute utilisation en est
interdite. Dans ce cas, vous etes pries de le detruire et d'en informer la
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