The Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC), along with PHCC School Health Services and Programme and Communicable Diseases Control departments, has launched the ‘School Health Guidance Protocol’ to reinforce precautionary and protective measures to combat the spread of Covid-19 at schools and pave the way for a safe return for students and staff.
This comes as the State implements Phase 4 of the Covid-19 Qatar National Response Action Plan.
The protocol has been made as a reference for all departments, nurses and allied teams, namely health and safety wards, and for the school community as a whole, PHCC said in a statement. It explains all precautionary procedures to be implemented in schools to ensure that the school environment is safe and healthy to receive students and staff in line with the safety measures.
To guarantee optimal implementation of the rules contained in the protocol and in order to acquaint the school community with the best preventive practices, PHCC held multistage training workshops between August 23 and 27 for each school department. A team comprising school health and communicable diseases control specialists was assigned to train all targeted categories, including school nurses in government and private schools, school principals, and health and safety wards, on all the preventive and precautionary measures to be followed.
To ensure full readiness and sound implementation of precautionary measures, each of the section was assigned its role. For instance, school nurses were asked to assess and follow up on the health of students on a case-by-case basis, deal with suspected cases in isolation rooms and refer and follow up on the same.
Health and safety wards were asked to support the school team designated to follow up on the implementation and progress of the precautionary measures at the school facilities, ensuring that they are fully adhered to, and to respond to any remarks or potential risks before kids arrive at school, the statement explains.
"The PHCC School Health Services and Programme reiterates this is the joint social responsibility for all individuals and hence everyone is urged to comply with the precautionary and preventive measures in school. One way to help stop the spread of infection is to stay at home if a child or staff feels unwell or comes in contact with a positive case," the statement adds.
