Enugu State government says it has retrained 60 public health workers on COVID-19 preventive measures to ensure continuous protection of everyone within its health facilities.
Dr Okechukwu Ossai, Executive Administrator of Enugu State Hospital Management Board (ESHMB), disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Enugu.
Ossai noted that the retraining had become necessary to ensure that health workers did not shirk their responsibilities of keeping safe and ensuring that hospital facilities were kept safe as well.
According to him, health workers, especially those at the frontline, should not relax, as COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over.
He said that the state government was taking pro-active and far-reaching measures to safeguard the people of the state against the COVID-19 Delta variant.
The executive administrator said that the quick approval of the retraining and the recent supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) to some secondary health facilities showed the premium the state government placed on its health workers.
“The retraining packaged, in the mode of train-the-trainer, is meant for 60 health workers from all major hospitals (secondary hospitals) in the state, as the COVID-19 pandemic is not over.
“The retraining, which was concluded late last week, had 15 participants at a session to allow for proper distancing and spacing of all.
“Those retrained will go pack and give series of retraining to co-health workers in their respective health facilities scattered all over the state.
“Today, the state is in the forefront of preparing against the COVID-19 Delta variant, which experts say is more devastating and impactful, unlike the other variants.
“We want optimal cleanliness and social/physical distancing in our health facilities to ensure that all the variants of COVID-19 are kept far from our health facilities,’’ he said.
Ossai, who was a former Director of Public Health in the state, warned residents of the state against dropping their guard on COVID-19, adding that they should rather observe all the non-pharmaceutical measures to protect themselves against the pandemic.
“They should always wear their face masks; wash their hands regularly with soap under running water, keep social and physical distancing as well as avoid crowded areas.
“If one feels sick, he or she should do well by reporting to the nearest health facility for proper diagnoses,’’ he added. (NAN)
