Greek Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias on Thursday received US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt at his office in Athens for talks on further strengthening the exchange medical equipment, technology and knowhow.
Pyatt congratulated Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the Cabinet for the way that Greece has so effectively handled the global challenge posed by the pandemic. He noted that the actions of the Greek government had saved lives and had also done an exceptional job improving Greece’s reputation.
The ambassador also congratulated Kikilias for his leading role in this effort, as well as the deputy health minister and the hundreds of Greek doctors and nurses "who are the heroes of this story in recent months.”
During the meeting, Greece also received 200,000 antibody tests from US medical device developer Abbott Laboratories.
“I am very pleased with the delivery of 200,000 antibody tests to the Greek Health Ministry. We hope this delivery of these tests will aid Greece through this critical next phase of battling the virus and restarting the Greek economy,” Pyatt said.
In response Kikilias noted that Greece "will be one of the first European countries to use these highly sensitive tests and we want to thank the US Government and, of course, the US Embassy for their assistance and cooperation, so that we can enable our scientists to use these tools diagnostically and epidemiologically, in order to better protect our fellow citizens."
Congratulations to Minister @VKikilias, @YpYgGr and the entire @PrimeMinisterGr team for their accomplishments in handling #COVID19. The world has taken notice and #Greece serves as an example. #ΜενουμεΑσφαλεις pic.twitter.com/QFia1Lceoq
— George J. Tsunis (@USAmbassadorGR) May 14, 2020
