The Delhi government has started training more than 400 doctors from different hospitals in the city for the COVID-19 vaccination drive.
“The government has started training more than 400 doctors since yesterday (Sunday). Doctors who were trained by the Central government last week are heading the training and it will be completed in three days,” a Delhi government official told The Hindu .
The official said that some doctors who are part of the Delhi government administration are also being trained.
The government will in the next stage train auxiliary nurse midwives and nurses, who would be the actual vaccinators. Training will also be imparted to ASHA and Anganwadi workers to spread awareness about the vaccine in their areas.
FELUDA test
Also, staff of one lab each in two Delhi government hospitals are being trained to use FELUDA (FNCAS9 Editor-Limited Uniform Detection Assay) paper strip test for COVID-19 from Monday.
The FELUDA test is done in a lab using a nasopharyngeal swab, just like the RT-PCR test.
According to officials, the FELUDA paper strip test gives results within one hour, which is much faster than the RT-PCR test.
The training in FELUDA test is being carried out using leftover samples.
On October 22, the Indian Council of Medical Research issued an advisory for the use of FELUDA paper strip tests for COVID-19 detection.
“Today there was an online training for the two labs. From tomorrow (Tuesday), there will be on-the-spot training for both the labs,” the official said.
The government plans to purchase 50,000 FELUDA kits once it is available later this week on a “Government e-Market” (GEM), an online purchase platform for government agencies, the official added.
