In-person training of Bihar healthcare workers awaits govt nod

The idea is to ensure that at least two doctors and nurses at each of the state’s 36 district hospitals are well trained to not only lead the paediatric acute care units in districts of their posting but some of them also become trainers

The Bihar health department is yet to firm up the schedule for in-person training of doctors and nurses in paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) management with the aim to safeguard children from the possible third wave of Covid-19, people aware of developments said.

The in-person training for doctors and nurses in paediatrics ICU management will be held at AIIMS Patna. (HT Photo)

Around 600 doctors and nurses from the state health department have undergone online training given by experts from Patna’s All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). However, hands-on training for shortlisted health personnel is yet to begin at AIIMS due to non confirmation of the schedule, people quoted above added.

“We are in the process of finalising the framework for shortlisting health personnel to be sent for onsite training at AIIMS-Patna. We will share the schedule after we finalise it,” a government functionary said requesting anonymity.

The Bihar government has decided in principle to nominate the institute as the centre of excellence for paediatrics management of Covid-19.

“We shall release the online training module for trainees tomorrow (Tuesday). Good performers will be shortlisted for in-person training in consultation with the state government,” said Dr Lokesh Tiwari, additional professor and head of the department of paediatrics at AIIMS-Patna.

The institute proposes to shortlist about 125 paediatricians and nurses (in equal numbers) to be divided into four batches that will get a week’s training each, spread over a month.

“We propose to begin the week-long training in PICU management from August 31. The training session will continue for a month. However, we are awaiting a confirmation of the training schedule from the state health department,” added Dr Tiwari.

He said the idea was to ensure that at least two doctors and nurses at each of the state’s 36 district hospitals are well trained to not only lead the paediatrics acute care units in districts of their posting but some of them also become trainers. The remaining 475 health personnel, trained through the online mode, are supposed to form a support structure around them at the sub-divisional hospitals and community health centres.

The institute provided online training to 600 state healthcare workers in five days between August 10 and 18. As many as 200 paediatricians from across all the nine state-run medical colleges were trained on August 10, the first day of the online training programme, while the remaining 400 doctors and nurses from district hospitals were trained on August 12, 13, 17 and 18.

Bihar reported 20 fresh Covid cases from 10 of the state’s 38 districts on Sunday, taking the total number of Covid-19 cases to 725,588 and fatalities to 9,649. The number of active Covid cases has also come down to 140.