Njala University Hospital Staff Schooled on COVID-19 Pandemic

Njala University Hospital staff has on Wednesday, 1st April, 2020 benefitted from a one day training on the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The training was jointly organised by the Moyamba District Health Management Team (DHMT) officials from the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, and World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office. This move is part of the government’s effort in strengthening the resilience of its health care workers.

Charles Keimba, Director, Health Security Emergency, Ministry of Health and Sanitation indicated that the Ministry of Health and its partners have put together various PowerPoint presentations to heighten the awareness of health care workers who according to him are at great risk in such an outbreak.

In his PowerPoint presentation, Mr. Keimba first gave a global, regional and local update of the pandemic noting that WHO has recorded 758,890 cases, 57,610 new cases and 36,405 deaths as of Tuesday, 31st March, 2020.

Director Keimba further explained the background to the outbreak, highlighting what the virus is, its types, sub types, groupings as well as it symptoms and resistance levels on hard surfaces and on the air.

His presentation also stressed on the Transmission Patterns of the virus, Case and Contact Identification Procedures, Community Based Surveillance Case Definition and the role of health care workers in indentifying a suspected, probable and confirmed cases.

He ends his presentation by describing the various Case Management Procedures to be adopted by heath care workers during the COVID-19 response.

Nannah Fofanah of the Infection, Prevention and Control Unit, Ministry of Health and Sanitation also admonished the staff in a PowerPoint presentation on the various Infection, Prevention and Control (IPC) measures to be followed by in terms of using standard PPE’s to protect themselves from been infected with the virus.

She underscored that Personal Protective Equipment (PPE’s) are in short supply across the world and that the World Health Organization (WHO) is prioritizing supplies to worst hit countries.

‘’It is possible that we will have a shortage of PPE’s in the country and hence there is a need for us to judiciously manage what we have at the moment,’’ she disclosed.

Madam Nannah discouraged health workers from unnecessarily putting on PPE’s when the situation does not require. She stressed on the need for the hospital to have a triage and an isolation room to be able to prepare probable cases for the attention of the DHMT in Moyamba.

Nannah Fofanah also encouraged the need to wash hands regularly or use hand sanitizers.

The last presentation was done on Public Health Laboratory Preparedness that is geared towards preparing laboratory technicians on how to extract samples from possible cases and how to eventually package such samples for onward movement.

The various PowerPoint presentations by the WHO, MOHS and the Moyamba DHMT representatives according to Dr. Mohamed Koker, Senior Medical Officer, Njala Hospital was timely and would greatly help in heightening the awareness and resilience of his staff in preparing to fight the Corona Virus which is already in the country.

CHO, Aisha Fanny Jones of Njala University hospital and other health care workers attached to the hospital expressed great apprehension that their health care facility is without PPE, triage and other medical equipment to keep them safe in treating patients.

Njala hospital, the UMC Hospital and the Moyamba Government hospital are the only three main health facilities available in the District to care for patients.

The authorities at Njala hospital are striving very hard to work towards providing efficient health care services for the University and its community leading to the recent appointment of a Senior Medial Officer, of international experience to manage the day to day activities of the hospital.

Moreover, the Senior Medical Officer has appealed to the visiting delegation on behalf of the University authorities to implore on the authorities at the Moyamba DHMT to consider equipping the hospital.

The Deputy Vice Chancellor of Njala University, Njala Campus, Professor Bashiru Koroma earlier welcomed the MOHS and WHO delegation to his campus and underscored the commitment of the University to complement the government in fighting against the COVID-19, noting that the University is undertaking measures and also participating in trainings organized by the government and its partners towards combating the pandemic.

Quite recently, the Njala administration through the Community Relations Office and the Njala Hospital donated Veronica buckets and also held sensitization meetings on the virus to immediate communities in the Kori Chiefdom including Mokende, Tiama and other surrounding villages.

For more enquiry contact the Public Relations Office, Njala University/+23276336213/+23276245292/Email: akoroma1@njala.edu.sl / rssesay@njala.edu.sl