The Small Earth Nepal (SEN), Rotary Club (RC) of Kathmandu, and Yale New Haven Health- Lawrence and Memorial Hospital jointly organized the webinar “Fighting COVID19: Experiences and knowledge exchange from the frontliners” on 16 December 2020. The purpose of this webinar was to bring frontline health professionals together for exchanging their knowledge and experiences with the COVID-19 response. Moderated by Dr. Pradeep Pandey (Neuropsychiatrist and Rotarian at RC of Kathmandu), the webinar began with an opening remark by Dhiraj Pradhananga (President of SEN and Asst. Professor at Tribhuvan University).
The speakers for the webinar involved a team of doctors from the Yale New Haven Health- Lawrence and Memorial Hospital (Connecticut, USA), Chitwan Medical College, Kist Medical College, Nepal National Hospital, Manmohan Medical College, and Shahid Dharmabhakta National Transplant Centre. The webinar covered a range of topics related to COVID-19 preparedness and response including coverage of health facilities, separate space allocation, operational processes, appropriate interventions to avoid the direct risk of aerosolization, the scope of telehealth equipped with audio-video (in-touch, echo shows), precautions taken by staffs, difficulties faced by elderly patients with comorbidities, and financial issues faced by the COVID-19 patients.
The webinar was summarized by Dr. Bishal Pradhanang (Senior Respiratory Care Practitioner at the Yale New Haven Health- Lawrence and Memorial Hospital) and gracefully concluded with the closing remarks by Prof. Suresh Raj Chalise (Rotarian, RC of Kathmandu and Advisor to SEN) and Rtn. Tirtha Raj Dahal (President, RC of Kathmandu).
The team has planned to host a second webinar for the general public. Based on these two webinars, they will be producing awareness materials to be useful for the general public. The contents of the awareness campaign will be simple life-saving approaches before visiting a doctor or a hospital.
Team of doctors from the Yale New Haven Health – Lawrence and Memorial Hospital:
- Oliver Mayogra, MD, MHCM, FACEP, Chief Medical Officer
- Kevin Torres, DO, FACEP, Associate Chief Medical Officer
- Cynthia Tucker, MD, Emergency Medicine
- Niall Duhig, MD, Pulmonary Medicine and Critical Care Medicine
- Alin Bortan, MD, Infectious Disease
- Tami Summers, MHA, RRT, ACCS, NPS, Manager Respiratory Care Department
Team of doctors from Nepal:
- Prof. Kabita Hada Batajoo, MD, PAHS, Head of the Emergency, Department at Kist Medical College
- Prof. Shital Adhikari, MD, DM, Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine, Chitwan Medical College
- Prakash Paudyal, MBBS, MD, Pulmonologist, Hospital Director, Nepal National Hospital
- Prabhat Adhikari, MBBS, MD, Infectious and Intensive Care Specialist, Manmohan Medical College
- Prabin Paudyal, MBBS, Shahid Dharmabhakta National Transplant Centre
