Grace Kiwanuka, the Executive Director Uganda Healthcare Federation, says the training is scheduled to commence this Wednesday will focus on health workers in small private health facilities in the community.
The health ministry has embarked on a training program for
health workers amidst a surge in infections in this category and uncertainty on
whether or not they contract the virus in the line of duty.
The program will see at least 2000 health workers training
on infection prevention and control. Grace Kiwanuka, the Executive Director Uganda Healthcare
Federation, says the training is scheduled to commence this Wednesday will
focus on health workers in small private health facilities in the community.
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Dr. Deogratious Ssekimpi, the lead trainer and expert on occupational health,
says the process of organizing the training has been ongoing since the late
2020 when a World Bank Training Materials Development Consultant was approached
to develop for them materials that would be most applicable for Uganda.
He says in early December they carried out a review with 5 test run virtual
trainings of 2 days each that saw the participation of about 300 health care
workers from across the country from both government and private facilities.
For
him, with the focus on occupational health, the training comes in handy with many
health workers unaware of how to protect themselves when a public health
emergency hits.
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Other areas that the new training that’s planned to be both virtual and face to
face will tackle include clinical care psychosocial support, epidemiology and
surveillance, home-based care and continuity of essential services.
Just last month, seven health workers including senior specialists in Mulago
and Kawempe National Referral Hospitals succumbed to the viral respiratory
disease. Over 1700 other health workers have tested positive for the disease.
Ssekimpi says the majority of these do not necessarily work in COVID-19
treatment centers but rather are infected in either the community or their
respective facilities outside of COVID-19 wards.
He says it’s because of this
that they will have a module on occupational safety considering that this area
has been elusive.
