Haverhill-based The Guardtech Group gifts a £50,000 mobile lab to Uganda in fight against Covid-19

A Haverhill company has donated one of its award-winning portable laboratories to the Ugandan government to support the country’s fight against Covid-19.

The Guardtech Group has gifted the CleanCube Mobile Cleanroom – worth about £50,000 – to the Ugandan People’s Defence Force’s (UPDF) medical services department as a result of experiencing unexpected growth during the pandemic.

Guardtech has supplied more than 40 CleanCube PCR testing labs across the UK and beyond and the solution has won the SME Cambridgeshire Business Awards gong for Business Innovation and the Federation of Small Businesses Award for Business & Product Innovation.

The Ugandan lab will be used to battle Covid in remote parts of the country and go on to provide dental health and other medical services once it’s repurposed.

Guardtech director Ray Wheeler said: “The pandemic has really taken its toll on everyone, but it’s also been an unexpected source of growth in our business due to the demand for our CleanCube van and container labs for PCR testing.

“We wanted to give something back – and having contacts in Uganda where the need for aid is so critical, we felt a donation to their cause was something positive that we could do in return.

“We realise how grateful the UPDF is for this donation, as resources for the essential medical work they do is limited.

“Enabling them to reach parts of the country with the lab where hygiene standards are not as high makes this such a worthwhile donation. I would urge any businesses who can make further donations of surplus medical equipment to do so, as they would also be well received.”

Major General Dr Ambrose Musinguzi, from the UDPF, said: “Thank you so much to the Guardtech Group for the generous donation of this mobile laboratory – it will make such a difference to the quality of service that we can offer to our people in the villages.”