Health Services Academy (HSA) in collaboration with the Ministry of National Health Services, WHO, UNICEF, and ICRC, the We Care campaign aims to provide adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to health workers, orienting them on the usage of various PPE items as per international standards, and creating an overall psycho-social environment of care and support. The ‘We Care’ national training campaign targeting over 100,000 frontline health workers including doctors, nurses, paramedics, and support staff from all over Pakistan, was inaugurated at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) here on 15th May 2020.
Health Services Academy (HSA), Islamabad was responsible for the implementation of the challenging task. Considering the limited time and impediments imposed by the current situation of Covid-19 restrictions comprehensive implementation plan was devised after brainstorming sessions. A standardized national curriculum has been developed for this training and top medical universities all across Pakistan (one in each province) has been selected to deliver training in their respective areas in collaboration with HSA.
The campaign was shared with provincial and regional health ministers, has been launched with consensus, and will complement ongoing efforts of the provinces and development partners. “The training has been designed to explain the standard usage and role of PPE to health care workers so that they can protect themselves in the contagious Covid-19 environment. They should consider it a personal responsibility to wear proper PPE according to the risk in the environment they are working in,” the SAPM said. A documentary on proper usage of PPE was also played on the occasion.
- Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University, Islamabad
- Fatima Jinnah Medical University, Lahore
- Agha Khan University, Karachi
- Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro
- Khyber Medical University Peshawar
- Institute of Public Health, Quetta, Baluchistan
All the partners were formally engaged by HSA and requested each institution the nominations of focal persons and individuals who can act as Master Trainers for the delivery of online We Care Training sessions of the rational use of PPEs.
The majority of the training sessions were delivered virtually by using Google Meet and Zoom however in-person sessions by adhering to the SOPs in-person sessions was conducted with the staff of health facilities those not familiar with technology and struggling to join online. Target of 100000 was divided among implementing partners as per number of health care staff and allied institutes. From May 2020 to March 2021 we have successfully trained 99029 individual across Pakistan including Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Health Services Academy (HSA), Islamabad was responsible for the implementation of the challenging task. Considering the limited time and impediments imposed by the current situation of Covid-19 restrictions comprehensive implementation plan was devised after brainstorming sessions. A standardized national curriculum has been developed for this training and top medical universities all across Pakistan (one in each province) has been selected to deliver training in their respective areas in collaboration with HSA.
The majority of the training sessions were delivered virtually by using Google Meet and Zoom however in-person sessions by adhering to the SOPs in-person sessions was conducted with the staff of health facilities those not familiar with technology and struggling to join online. Target of 100000 was divided among implementing partners as per number of health care staff and allied institutes. From May 2020 to March 2021 we have successfully trained 99029 individual across Pakistan including Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.