By Allieu Sahid Tunkara
A local nurse at the Annointed Nursing Home centre in Freetown has expressed confidence in the Ebola fight after gaining training from the World Health Organisation.
“Initially, I was afraid to work in the Ebola treatment centres, but with this training, I have got much confidence to work in any treatment centre” Francis Edward Kamara said.
He said the training was very important and had come at the right time.
Kamara, who said Ebola had killed many of his colleagues, was speaking on Monday at the national stadium where WHO, in collaboration with the ministry of health, were training 5,000 health workers to combat the Ebola virus that has killed around 1,000 people in the country.
Dr. Kathrina Roper, the lead trainer, said WHO had drawn up the training plan so that health workers could effectively handle Ebola patients in their health service delivery. She said the training would focus mainly on social mobilisation and the use of Personal Protective Equipment, among others.
“As the training is being rolled out, my organisation believes that it will greatly help health workers in their day-to-day health care service delivery in the Ebola treatment centres,” said Roper. She went on to say that the health workers had been divided into groups, each consisting of 130 personnel. She said they had already trained about 500 health workers adding that the training "will continue until Ebola is eradicated in Sierra Leone”.
Joseph Saidu Foday, another beneficiary nurse, thanked WHO for their job in the fight against Ebola. He said health officers were exposed to many risks, which he said had caused the deaths of many of them. “We will ensure that we put into practice these skills which we have acquired from this training,” Foday assured.
(C) Politico 16/10/14
