How do Volunteers work in the process of Prevention, Control and Treatment on COVID-19?

How do Volunteers work in the process of Prevention, Control and Treatment on COVID-19? 

We are assisting the Volunteer Management at the Department of Public Health and Care in Yangon Region, and the volunteers are sharing the duties as follows.

1. Management Team
2. Logistic Team
3. Admin team
4. Documentation Team
5. Medical Social Support Team
6. Technical Support Team
7. Volunteer from Quarantine Centers 

There are a total of around 500 volunteers who share the duties and responsibilities.

The hardest and most difficult parts are Data Entry Volunteers who are from the technical support team and Quarantine Centers volunteers. There are risks related.

In a room, the data entry volunteers work and put the data the whole day. They can’t use or open even the air conditioner in light of the fact that the electricity is not enough for it. They must fill all over 15,000 Health Declaration Forms from the airport and a rundown of individuals (above 2600 ppl) who live in Quarantine Centers, in the sweat throughout the day. The risk for Data Entry Volunteers is that there are about 100 people in participation every day, and the temperature is measured at each turn. Indeed, even if we fill Masks and Hand gel enough, we still have a worry. On the off chance that we have someone who is infected, all volunteers could be contaminated.

Quarantine Centers Volunteers give the service to bring the meals and garbage collection, spraying to clean the dormitories and meeting the needs of the people living in Quarantine in a timely manner. Volunteers from Quarantine Centers also have to wait for a patient who is in the center to be hospitalized because of a serious illness. Before the result announcement of MOHS, they appeal to God for the outcomes to be negative for the COVID-19 constantly. Not only that, some of our volunteers are additionally volunteering at the Quarantine Centers with family members who were involved with the COVID 19 – Positive cases and medical staff.

Nevertheless, at this time, the Department of Health can’t provide Quarantine centers with numerous medical workers. A maximum of two and or only three can be given. It is exceptionally hard for all to do all of the above tasks with just a few specialists. It is also more likely that employees from departments other than the health department will work in the hospital and will return home when the job is completed. That leads to more risks for them. The duties that our medical workers don’t have to do is to take care of people living in quarantine because the volunteers of quarantine centers are shared to do some tasks instead of the medical workers to relieve their workload and allow them to focus on medical work.

I started volunteering as a member of the management team for the process for Prevention, Control and Treatment on COVID-19 at the office of Yangon Region Health Department from March 27 to till.

Thet Thet Yadanar Thein

YPEER Myanmar