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

This is an effort by the government to strengthen the state's COVID response and the training will be provided under the USAID-RISE (Reaching Impact Saturation and Epidemic Control) project, which works across the countries to achieve a shared vision of attaining and maintaining epidemic control. The Punjab government aims to better equip healthcare professionals with the skills required to tackle the pandemic.

According to a recent report by HT, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed with the John Hopkins University, US, to impart training to the frontline workers, who will further teach medical workers, across the state.

John Hopkins Programme for International Education on Gynaecology and Obstetrics (JHPIEGO), which is a non-profit organisation for international health affiliated with Johns Hopkins University, will provide assistance to the GGSMCH.

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.