A total of 28 medical experts from the United Kingdom and World Health Organisation are in eSwatini to assist the southern African kingdom respond to a surge in COVID-19 cases, Health Minister Lizzie Nkosi said on Monday.
Nkosi said the UK has provided 11 medical experts comprising critical care doctors, criticial care infection prevention and control nurses, a biomedical engineer, a logistician and a risk communications and community engagement advisor.
The UK experts, provided under the UK Emergency Medical Team programme, would assist eSwatini’s medical personnel “to improve their clinical skills and medical systems in the COVID-19 management.”
“They will also help us identify major gaps in our health systems and what we can do to best with the resources we have,” Nkosi said.
She said the WHO has seconded a team of 17 experts who would work with eSwatini medical personnel to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“These teams will be deployed in the bigger hospitals that are taking care of moderate and severely ill COVID-19 patients, including those on oxygen and those on ventilators,” she said.
The UK and WHO responded to an appeal by the eSwatini government for assistance in the wake of a second wave of COVID-19 cases that began in the country in November 2020 and has been characterised by overwhelmingly high numbers of infections, averaging over 200 confirmed cases and more than 10 deaths per day in recent weeks.
Nkosi said the high numbers have overwhelmed the capacity of the country’s health system to respond to the pandemic, prompting the government to call for assistance.