In continuation of the efforts exerted by the Ministry of Health (MOH) to combat Corona virus, the Eastern Region Health Affairs General Directorate has taken several preventive actions to avert onset or outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Corona virus (MERS-CoV). These actions included intensifying the awareness programs, creating triage area in the emergency (ER) department for all cases admitted to the department, upon which the patients with respiratory diseases are referred to an area isolated from people with other diseases, in addition to providing waiting areas, radiology section, a vital signs monitoring room in the reception area of patients with respiratory diseases. That is to be added to dividing the area into three sub-zones with three different colors: the green for patients with stable condition, the yellow for the medium condition, and the red for the critical condition.
Meanwhile, the Eastern Region Health Affairs has made available high efficiency preventive masks proper for health workers in the sections dealing with such cases, in addition to fit-testing these masks by the healthcare workers, so that they would offer the required protection while dealing with the suspected cases upon conducting the medical work. Besides, dialysis devices have been allocated for the patients, so as for them not to be moved from a place to another and to receive all the services in one place. In addition, the Directorate has provided training for the medical staff on how to take care of patients, and how to prevent the disease, as well as introducing them with its nature, the ways of its transmission, how to wear protection tools, and how to dispose of them safely.
That is to be added to raising awareness of the cleaning workers, and selecting a number of them for efficiency testing, and enroll them in training courses and lectures in this regard, as well as organizing multiple educational campaigns for patients, outpatients and visitors. Additionally, hand sterilizers are to be increased at all locations, in and outside patient rooms, besides developing prevention guidelines for all sections. Moreover, the Eastern Region Health Affairs has provided four surface disinfection devices to be used directly after discharging the patient from the isolation room. After moving the MERS-CoV patient, the lifts are closed, cleaned and disinfected with the device designated for this purpose. In addition to that, short ways and special lifts have been designated for moving patients, besides dedicating special and mobile radiology devices for the patients in the isolation rooms.
Further, the Eastern Region Health Affairs has provided a sterilizer for the morgue, and another for the ambulance, so as to sterilize the area after moving each patient, as part of its precautionary measures. In this regard, training has been provided for ambulance drivers, security guards, morgue staff, and cleaning workers at the morgue, as well as providing special, secure and easy-to-clean containers for transferring the samples taken from the patients and sent to the labs, besides providing refrigerators for keeping the samples until transferring them.
Moreover, the Directorate has provided 10 mobile air-filtering devices to be used upon taking the samples or conducting any medical measure to the patient, besides dedicating corpse washers for MERS-CoV deaths, after providing training and supervision while cleaning each corpse by infection control department, as well as providing body bags for the corpses who died of infectious diseases, and providing special uniform to be worn by corpse washers while cleaning, and offering them a training program, as is the case with the morgue staff. In addition, workshops on how to properly put on high-efficiency masks have been planned. That is to be added to setting work policies and regulations to deal with MERS-CoV cases, and making sure of their implementation, as well as preparing forms to register all those who enter to the patient rooms for easily tracking them in the event of the occurrence of any infection, Allah forbid!
It's noteworthy that, the measures taken by the Eastern Region Health Affairs General Directorate have contributed, thanks to Allah, to limiting MERS-CoV incidence, as it has managed to control the health situation in the region.