Cairo, 12 September 2021- The International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Egypt in coordination with the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP), has organized five-day training sessions for more than two hundred (200) national healthcare workers from 23- 27 August in Sharm El Sheikh International Hospital on Basic Life support and Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support.

The training sessions entitled “Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS)” attended by 112 males and 89 females, aimed to ensure the sustainability of health capacity trainings for the national healthcare workers. During the sessions, participants have engaged in bilateral discussions sharing their professional experiences and academic knowledge. They have also participated in real-life clinical scenarios using practice models and real defibrillators. The practical trainings were followed by a final post-test to quantify the knowledge enhancement of the participants.

“Such training sessions give us the chance to reinforce the existing national healthcare system, which is already showing high capacities to deliver high-quality services for all citizens. It is also an opportunity to command and recognize the importance of healthcare workers in our societies and the pivotal role they play when serving individuals and communities. We are very much satisfied with the positive attitude of healthcare workers and their engagement in serving all, leaving no one behind”, said Laurent de Boeck, Chief of Mission of IOM to Egypt.

By the end of the trainings, 150 healthcare workers have been certified as basic life support providers, while 10 were accredited as basic life support instructors, and 41 qualified as advanced cardiovascular life support providers, certified by the American Heart Association (AHA).

“We are very delighted with the first and definitely not the last “AHA Accredited BLS and ACLS” training courses in South Sinai, and so grateful for IOM Egypt great efforts for delivering those trainings”, said Dr Marian Alexan Assad, Head of Human Resources of the Universal Health Insurance organization (UHI).

The trainings were made possible through the support offered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland under the Project “Fostering Health and Protection to Vulnerable Migrants Transiting through Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Sudan.  

The trainings contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Goal 3 “Good Health and Well Being, Goal 16 “Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions” and Goal 17 “Partnerships for the Goals”. The training series come also in-line with the objectives of the Global Compact for Migration (GCM), objective 7 “Address and reduce vulnerabilities in migration”, objective 12 “Strengthen certainty and predictability in migration procedures for appropriate screening, assessment and referral” and objective 18 “Invest in skills development and facilitate mutual recognition of skills, qualifications and competences”.

For more information, please contact Mariam Salim at IOM Egypt, Tel: +20 1012 428 527, Email: msalim@iom.int