Old Mutual has donated two COVID-19 testing machines worth N$2,7 million to the Namibia Institute of Pathology (NIP) as part of the Business Fighting COVID-19 initiative. There are two components to the commitment; to acquire testing equipment for N$1,7 million, broaden the scale of testing and the procurement of test kits. The second component is N$1 million will go towards strengthening contact tracing capacity. Old Mutual Group chief executive officer Kosmas Egumbo says for post-COVID-19, NIP can still utilise the instruments for research purposes and will thus increase Namibia’s test repertoire. He said he is confident that NIP medical technicians and researches will optimise the use of the machinery to the fullest and “we are looking forward to increase random testing as the NIP now has the capacity to do so. “What has been demonstrated is that when private and public sectors collaborate constructively we can deliver more efficiency.” On his part NIP chairman, Bryan Eiseb said the automated extraction machines that will extract 1 008 tests, is a welcome relief to the NIP as an institution and the country. Acting chief operations officer at NIP, Boniface Makumbi, says 10 medical staff will be deployed who will be working on shifts and that NIP wants 180 test per day during the first week of May. The NIP will be able to automate the extraction of the virus from collected samples, which will also improve the safety of staff members by reducing the risk of contamination during the handling of samples send to the NIP for testing The training and competency for staff members with the machines will begin tomorrow and the operation of testing will start by next week.