The Institute of Practical Research and Training (IPRT) and its affiliated institutions––Abaarso Tech University (ATU) and ATU-Daryeel Hospital ––have stepped up as frontline institutions in the fight against the COVID-19 Pandemic. As soon as the disease was discovered in China, Dr. Ahmed Esa, started writing in the mass media about Coronaviruses and warning the public about the impending diseases. His knowledge about Coronaviruses and respiratory diseases in general were extremely helpful (as it turns out Dr. Esa worked on a coronavirus animal model for his PhD dissertation).
Realizing that Somaliland was ill-prepared and had no treatment centers, we decided to offer the Somaliland government to help convert ATU-Daryeel Hospital to a dedicated COVID-19 treatment center. We are pleased that the staff of the hospital including those trained under the USADF grant has all accepted to suit up and continue to work at the hospital in spote of the fact that we have limited PPEs. Fortunately, Medicines sans Frontiers of France is now training our staff to work with the patients. We expanded our single ICU unit to 4 now and accommodate up to 100 patients.
IPRT continues to support its trained staff now working at ATU-Daryeel Hospital. We are guiding them with the difficult bureaucratic hurdles of converting to government employment.
IPRT has also started to fundraise for the workers at the hospital to support them while they face the difficult challenge of working at the hospital.
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