Punjab Medical College To Become COVID-19 Training Centre Under US-AID

Four sessions will be conducted to cover all the districts and it is intended to provide training to specialists (paediatricians, anaesthetists, pulmonologists), medical officers and staff nurses. The first batch of medical officials have already begun their training on Friday, September 17^th, 2021. This batch includes the following 6 districts - Barnala, Fazilka, Mansa, Mohali, Sangrur and SBS Nagar.

Dr Andesh Kang, director health services, and Dr Rajesh Bhaskar, state Covid-19 nodal officer, connected virtually with the participants and encouraged them.

Speaking to HT about the initiative, Dr Raj Bahadur, vice-chancellor, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) said: "We will train master trainers, who will help in the skill development of medical officials at the district Covid facilities. There will be seven participants from each district. The participants will have the opportunity of hands-on experience on ventilators, BiPAPs, CPAPs, non-invasive ventilation (NIV).

Dr Rajeev Sharma, principal GGSMCH, and Dr Shashikant Dhir, HoD paediatrics department, have been working to finalise the content of the training programme. A plan has been made to conduct the training on "Acute Care and Emergency Response in Management of Covid-19 for Paediatric Patients" for all the districts of Punjab.

The programme will develop the skill set of the medical professionals and will equip them with the necessary training to efficiently tackle the pandemic.