
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