The Guadalcanal Swabbing and Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) team left yesterday morning to train more than 12 nurses at the Area Health Centers (AHCs) and Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) on the Weathercoast.
The team has split up into two mini-teams.
The first team is led by Lawrence Chobo, a GP nurse and IPC Coordinator. They left via West Guadalcanal and will be picking up one nurse each from Viso, Kuma, Madakacho, and Barainagho. They will wait for the second team at Avuavu AHC.
The second team is led by Dr Zimlon Bosawai. His team left Tetere Beach at 11am via East Guadalcanal.
He will be picking up three other nurses from Saro, Balolava and Nagho and will join the first team in Avuavu.
The MP for East Central Guadalcanal Constituency, Ishmael Avui also lends his support for the team.
Both teams are expected to arrive in Avuavu yesterday evening.
The Swabbing and IPC workshop will commence at Avuavu AHC today.
Dr Zimlon will be conducting the swabbing workshop, while Mr Lawrence will conduct the IPC workshop.
The team will then regroup and head back to Tangarare this Saturday. They will be picking other nurses from Mbabanakira, Marumbo, Wanderer Bay, and Fox Bay.
Their Swabbing and IPC training will commence at the Tangarare AHC either on Sunday or Monday depending on the weather.
The Swabbing and IPC team also has 3,600 Rapid Antigens Testing (RAT) kits. The AHC and RHCs will each be receiving 600 RAT kits after their respective trainings.
The distribution of these RAT kits will boost the swabbing capacity of the Guadalcanal Province.
The report will be helpful for the GP Health Emergency Operation Committee (GHEOC) and GPDOC to not only map out the community transmission, but also to work on the next responsive phase for next week.
According to Dr Joel Denty, the GP Health Director, most of the nurses were already trained early last year before the Covid-19 outbreak.
He said that the workshops will be refreshers for most of them.
In the meantime, GHEOC and GPDOC are aware of the Covid-19 like symptoms reports received from most of the wards.
However, such reports can only be proven as Covid-19 positive once the ‘probable’ cases are being swabbed.
So, according to Dr John Hue, who is the current GP’ Covid-19 Advisor, Guadalcanal Province is expected to register more positive cases of the Delta Variant once these ‘probable’ and ‘suspected’ cases are proven positive as of next week.
But, he said that this will depend entirely on peoples’ willingness to get swabbed.
The Swabbing and IPC team is expected to return on Monday or Tuesday next week. – GP Media
