The team leader of the China CDC team working in the Jui P-3 laboratory Dr Junling Sun has during the China – Sierra Leone symposium last Friday revealed that since they arrived in 2020, they have trained 534 laboratory technicians in a total of 23 training sessions.
She said they conducted training classes and improved capacities of local professionals, and trained 35 local professional lab personnel in the first phase of training.
“In Our second phase of the technical cooperation project, a total of 23 training sessions were held, and 534 people were trained, which included MOHS technical staff, management staff, local laboratory technicians and surveillance hospital staff. The project has also trained 13 long-term laboratory technicians in Sierra Leone, and from that number five of them were recommended to study in China and they are currently studying for a master’s or doctoral degree.”
Dr Sun averred that China CDC has completed two phases of technical cooperation project to strengthen the surveillance and capacity building of public health in Sierra Leone during 2015-2020, and since January 2020, two teams of 16 experts of China CDC and staff of Sierra Leone China friendship Bio-safety laboratory have been committed to supporting Ministry of Health (MOHS) to carry out the detection, prevention and control of COVID-19.
“We established and evaluated the nucleic acid detection of SARS-COV-2 in January, 2020. On February 14, our team tested the first sample of a suspected COVID-19 case, marking the official start of emergency testing for the new corona virus in Sierra Leone. On March 31st our team identified the first nucleic acid positive sample of COVID-19 patient in Sierra Leone. Up to 26th Jan, 2021, we have finished 20,006 swab samples of suspected patients.”
She said they have held training programs for local staff, including professional skills training and Biosafety training programs. Dr Sun said they have successfully trained local lab staff and there are qualified Sierra Leonean P3 staffs as well as P2 staff, and they can independently complete the SARS-COV-2 detection work.
“We have participated in many meetings and we have given our professional opinions during the COVID-19 response period. In the future, we will continue to support MOHS to strengthen COVID-19 detection and response, to improve the capacity of public health in Sierra Leone.”
Dr Sun called on all Sierra Leoneans to stay alert and obey all the Covid regulations as she believes that if everybody uses the face mask and distancing, definitely they will combat the Covid once and for all.
She said discipline is the major condition that will kick the virus out, because she said that is how they combated it in China.
She said all three of the Chinese Teams working in Sierra Leone have been doing very well and she said they appreciate the Sierra Leonean staff for their unflinching support in making sure that the tests are being done professionally and work towards getting the best for all Sierra Leoneans.