News

Since March 2020, Eswatini, a landlocked country with a population of 1.1 million has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic spreading across  all the 4 regions   of the country . To date, the number of confirmed cases reported has risen to 9 482 with 216 deaths giving case fatality rate of 2.3%. The country is experiencing rapid rise in the number of cases and deaths for the past 3 weeks. The daily number of positive cases is above 160 compared to less than 20 a month ago.

The country now has 11 COVID-19 treatment centres, nine public and two private with a total bed capacity of 437. Bed occupancy rate is rising every week.  The country has 29 beds for critical care with all 29 occupied giving occupancy rate of 100%. There are 26   additional critical care beds available, but they are not utilized due limited oxygen supply and inadequate critical care physicians and nurses.  Paucity of biomedical engineers to support installation and maintenance if critical care equipment remains a challenge.
 
The Ministry of Health is seeking Emergency Medical Teams to deploy the following personnel as surge support to various facilities:

COVID-19 specialized care team

• Team lead
• Critical care physicians
• Critical care nurses
• Biomedical Technicians

Please find the official request for assistance with all relevant details here: http://bit.ly/EMTRFAEswatini

Staff are requested from EMT organizations who have completed or are in process of completing the WHO EMT classification. This response requires EMT teams capable of integrating within existing health structures and working in support of the national health system.

• The requested initial duration of the mission is 4 weeks, but the EMT Secretariat welcomes offers from teams for shorter periods and a rotation with another team/teams. Additional information regarding the details of deployment will be provided to EMTs that submit their expressions of interest.
• All teams interested in deploying that meet the criteria should email their offers of assistance and registration forms to the EMT Secretariat.

All teams interested in deploying that meet the criteria should email their offers of assistance and registration forms (click here for form) to the EMT Secretariat (emteams@who.int) on or before 15 January 2021.

Deployment of Emergency Medical Teams is subject to approval by the Ministry of Health of Eswatini. Once in the field, the coordination of EMT activities is led by the Ministry of Health and supported by WHO. Teams are expected to be able to comply with the minimum standards of being a deployable EMT. The Ministry of Health is ready to provide necessary logistical support, however, teams are expected to be self-sufficient as required by the minimum standards.  

We thank you in advance for your assistance.

Emergency Medical Teams Secretariat