A two-day intensive training conducted by National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) for Quarantine Station (QS) Camp Managers of Western and Choiseul Province was successfully completed on Friday 11th December.
The topics covered were as follows: SIG and Quarantine Protocols, Quarantine Station Management Arrangement, Specific Functions in Quarantine Stations, Quarantine Services provided such as the meals, types of kits, Infrastructure, Protection (inclusiveness and complains mechanisms), Services Providers, Rules and Protocols and Disasters Evacuation Plans.
The training, hosted at Gizo’s Nusatupe Island Retreat, was attended by 20 Camp Management officers from the declared Western Emergency zone.
Choiseul Province Camp Management Chair Gibson Vilaka speaking on behalf of the participants commended the continuous support rendered by National Disaster Management Office (NDMO), the National Disaster Operations Sector Committees (N-DOC) and Camp Management.
“We have learnt a lot from this training. We are thankful for the facilitators and our colleagues from Western Province response operations for sharing your experiences on handling quarantine process and related tasks.”
He said the training shows commitment and sacrifice for our country to fight COVID-19. Key facilitator of the sessions, NEOC Chief Operations Officer George Baragamu, was satisfied that the participants grasped well the quarantine concept and functions.
“They can now be able to manage camp sector operations should there be cross-border or community transmission of the virus.
“We are also fulfilling the Governments’ preparedness and response plans objectives which is capacity building of provincial sector committees,” Mr Baragamu said.
From the training, there were two recommendations, which NEOC is working closely with the national Camp Management Sector Committee for actioning; a need to share lessons learnt by the Honiara Quarantine Station Camp Management team and provincial camp managers’ attachment program to Honiara.
Mr Baragamu explained the attachment “on the job” training goal is for Western and Choiseul Camp Managers to experience managing QS’s working along partners such as Health, Red Cross, RSIPF etc. now that the time is right with ongoing repatriation flights.
He added that NEOC is currently finalizing the program which they will select 6 officers for both provinces.
He further added that the camp management of both provinces is now on standby mode and all support must be provided by the P-DOC and respective Provincial Governments to ensure they are properly resourced to stem COVID-19 importation for the Western frontier.
Chair of the national Camp Management Sector Committee Mr Karl Kuper also shared with the participants’ his experiences with leading and managing the overall quarantining process since the country declared the state of emergency early this year. National Disaster Operations
Committee Chair Mr Loti Yates also thanked the participating provincial government agencies who are members of the camp management teams. “This training will sharpen your knowledge and understanding of the National Disaster Council (NDC) arrangements which the national government employ as the country’s preparedness and response coordination mechanism for the pandemic.”
The recently gazetted Quarantine Stations for Western Province are Noro Lodge, Nusatupe Accommodation, Takuho bungalows for the Shortland and Supizae Island bungalows for Choiseul Province.
Source: NDC Press Release