The RITM Infection Prevention and Control Committee (IPCC), together with the Nursing Department and Medical Department, capacitated RITM healthcare workers in an emergency training on the hospital management of the Ebola virus disease last March 15, 2019 at the RITM Auditorium.

The training was conducted in response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Counting more than 900 cases with almost 600 deaths since the outbreak declaration in August 2018, the epidemic in Congo is now considered as the largest Ebola outbreak in history.

With Ebola being a high-risk disease transmitted through contact with bodily fluids, the training covered the clinical care and laboratory diagnosis of Ebola as well as infection control principles and proper donning and doffing of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

“The advantage of working here in RITM is that you know that all your patients are infectious; we expect that [employees] practice infection prevention and control measures,” stresses IPCC Head Dr. Charissa Fay Tabora.

The training was attended by 82 RITM doctors, nurses, medical technicians, and radiologic technicians who had not yet been trained to safely respond to the fatal virus. The most recent Ebola training held in RITM was in January 2015.

by Eunice Brito, Research Assistant, Project Matyag