GC Labs held the completion ceremony of KOICA Fellowship Program ‘The Capacity Building for Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Pulmonary Tuberculosis and Non-Tuberculosis Mycobacteria Infection in Ukraine(’23-’25), 2nd year)' on the August 2nd.
All 13 participants attended the ceremony to celebrate their successful completion of the invitational training course, which took place from July 22nd to August 2nd.
The second-year participants, consisting of doctors and bacteriologists from major national medical universities, research institutes, and tuberculosis-specialized healthcare institutions across seven regions of Ukraine, either visited or took lectures from various healthcare institutes during the two-week period. These institutions included Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, Seoul National University Hospital, NGeneBio, Seoul Metropolitan Seobuk Hospital, Kangdong Sacred Heart Hospital, National Medical Center, Kyung Hee University Medical Center, Seoul National University College of Medicine, and HuNBiome. The participants were able to learn about the theory and clinical applications of tuberculosis treatment and diagnosis, as well as the latest diagnostic technologies.
This training course was an advanced course following the first-year online training held in October last year. The goal was to enhance the practical application skills of the theoretical content learned previously, such as Korea's TB policy, TB treatment and clinical cases in Korea, overall TB diagnosis including NGS, treatment & diagnosis of NTM, etc. On the last day of the training, the participants presented action plans based on their lessons learned to demonstrate the outcomes of the program.
‘The Capacity Building for Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Pulmonary Tuberculosis and Non-Tuberculosis Mycobacteria Infection in Ukraine (’23-’25)’, which is being operated by GC Labs, will be held for three years from 2023 to 2025 as part of the KOICA Fellowship Program. The program aims to improve the quality of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of Tuberculosis and NTM infections in Ukraine to improve public health and contribute to the global fight against Tuberculosis. In 2024, an invitational training course was organized to provide on-site learning and practical training at leading healthcare institutions at the Republic of Korea.
During the welcome speech at the opening ceremony on July 22, Sang Gon Lee, the President of GC Labs, said "I would like to take this opportunity to express my respect and gratitude for your dedication to public health despite difficult circumstances. I hope that the knowledge and experience gained from this training will assist in Ukraine's efforts to eradicate tuberculosis and that the healthcare cooperation between Korea and Ukraine will be further strengthened, contributing to the health improvement of both nations."
At the completion ceremony, participants presented GC Labs staffs with a wheat ear brooch, a symbol of Ukraine. The participants said that “the wheat ear symbolizes the foundation of life, as well as the unity and strength of our people. We look forward to the fruitful results of successful cooperation between Ukraine and Korea through the seeds of knowledge you have sown during this training period."