The state health department has identified the Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital (GGSMCH), Faridkot, as the state-level hub and centre of excellence (CoE) to provide Covid-19 training to health workforce under the USAID-RISE (Reaching Impact Saturation and Epidemic Control) project to build capacity of health workers.
To strengthen Punjab’s Covid-19 response, the state government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with John Hopkins University, USA, to get technical support to provide skill training to master trainers, who will further teach medical staff 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. The JHPIEGO team will work with the Faridkot medical college under the global initiative USAID-RISE project funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which works across the countries to achieve a shared vision of attaining and maintaining epidemic control.
The GGSMCH will conduct four training sessions to cover all the districts. Under this project, training will be provided to specialists (paediatricians, anaesthetists, pulmonologists), medical officers and staff nurses. The first batch of the medical officers started two-day training at the GGSMCH on Friday. In the first batch, training will be provided to medical officials of six 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.
{{/usCountry}}Dr Andesh Kang, director health services, and Dr Rajesh Bhaskar, state Covid-19 nodal officer, connected virtually with the participants and encouraged them.
{{/usCountry}}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.
Besides capacity building of the health workforce, the USAID-RISE Project will support the state in strengthening the oxygen ecosystem and Covid-19 diagnostics labs. The project will also provide technical assistance to the GGSMCH to set up its skill lab where doctors and nurses can be trained.