[ad_1]
PIEDRA QUEBRADA, January 18: Contact tracing is one of the most challenging tasks that Ministry of Health leaders face whenever they come across a positive COVID-19 case or cluster.
This is because sometimes they may need to track down thousands of “close contacts” that emerge from the index case. It’s hard work, but it must be done because contact tracing is a vital aspect of MOH’s early detection strategy to contain transmission of the COVID-19 virus and prevent the pandemic from worsening.
Health workers from the Ministry of Health who are involved in conducting screening activities for people related to the Batu Tujuh group can here attest to the difficulty of locating and contacting them.
This particular group, which involves Batu Pahat and Johor Bahru districts, emerged after a patient with a severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) tested positive for COVID-19 on November 22.
To date, more than 6,000 contacts have been traced and tested, and 400 of them tested positive.
About 100 health personnel from the Ministry of Health from Batu Pahat, Kluang, Muar, Pontian, Kota Tinggi and Segamat districts were deployed daily to carry out large-scale screening activities for the Batu Tujuh group, which is, by far one of the largest groups in Johor. Although it is still active, the cluster has been controlled.
Working round the clock
Public health expert Dr. Shahril Azian Masrom, who is also a Batu Pahat District Health Officer, told Bernama that an operating room was set up to track the movements of the Batu Tujuh cluster index case and narrow contacts and collect relevant data, as well as coordinate the process. health teams involved in research, execution, sampling and health promotion activities.
“Before this (Batu Tujuh group emerged), we had handled positive COVID-19 cases in Batu Pahat, but the number was not that great. To deal with the Batu Tujuh group, we had to hire health personnel from other districts such as Kluang, Muar, Pontian, Kota Tinggi and Segamat for the investigation of the case, the contact tracing and the sampling processes, “he said.
The operating room staff, led by Batu Pahat District Health Bureau (PKDBP) Public Health Expert and Epidemiology Officer Dr Akashah Abdullah, have been working tirelessly to screen for close contacts. , their family members, co-workers, neighbors and people who have been in contact with the group’s COVID-19 patients.
Dr. Nur Akma Anis Tajuddin, a physician with PKDBP’s Infectious Diseases Unit, said they have to track the contacts of each and every patient, and some of them have more than a hundred people on their close contact lists.
“We have to get in touch with every close contact so they can come to the Batu Pahat Health Center for an RT-PCR swab test,” she said, adding that during the day she and her colleagues would conduct contact tracing and night, enter your research data into the computer.
“At night we sometimes have to check the data in the MySejahtera app to identify the locations or facilities visited by patients and their close contacts.”
Challenges
Aside from the long hours they put into contact tracing, Dr. Nur Akma Anis and her colleagues also have to deal with people who are reluctant to undergo screening or who do not reveal their symptoms.
Health personnel also work closely with the police to ensure that close contacts ordered to undergo home surveillance comply with the quarantine order.
PKDBP environmental health aide Mohd Ubaidilah Shamsuddin, who was dispatched to take samples from close contacts, said that in the early stages, he was examining nearly 600 people a day.
“I had to wear PPE (personal protective equipment) for seven to eight hours a day and my body was covered in sweat.
“Even when we remove our PPE, we have to follow certain standard operating procedures (SOPs),” he said, adding that after completing his work for the day, he would clean himself thoroughly before returning home. – Called
[ad_2]
