TNMU and Akkon University of Human Sciences (Germany) have Completed a Series of German-Ukrainian Webinars on Fighting COVID-19 and the Responding of Health Care Systems in Ukraine and Around the World to the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic
On February 17, 2021, the 3rd German-Ukrainian webinar “Management of SARS-CoV-2 outbreak / epidemic in Ukraine” was held online at TNMU that was the last of a series of webinars on this topical issue for Ukraine as well as the whole world. The events were held within the cooperation agreement between TNMU and Akkon University of Human Sciences (Berlin, Germany).
The 3rd German-Ukrainian webinar was held with the support of partners of I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University.
– Akkon University of Human Sciences (Berlin, Germany) and the Institute for Research in International Assistance (IRIA) (Germany), represented by Professor Timo Ulrichs, the Director of the IRIA, Professor of Akkon University of Human Sciences in Berlin, and Dr. Gabi Feldman, Project Coordinator and Research Fellow of the IRIA, Akkon University of Human Sciences, Berlin (Germany);
– European Mission and International Relations in the ABDA e.V. (Federal Union of German Pharmacists Associations), the Johanniterstift Berlin-Tegel, (Germany), represented by Dr. Jens Gobrecht, Master of Public Health, Master of Business Administration, Director of European Mission and International Relations in ABDA e.V. (Federal Union of German Pharmacists Associations), curator of the Johanniterstift Berlin-Tegel, Germany,
– Ternopil Regional Laboratory Centre of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, Ternopil, Ukraine, which was represented by Acting Director Oksana Chaichuk, Chief State Sanitary Doctor of Ternopil region.
The TNMU teachers, post-graduate students and students were invited to take part in the webinar: teaching and academic staff of the Departments of Public Health and Health Management; Infectious Diseases with Epidemiology, Dermatology and Venerology; General Hygiene and Ecology; Functional and Laboratory Diagnostics; Anesthesiology and Intensive Care as well as other departments of TNMU; post-graduate students and students of the Faculty of Medicine of the General Medicine and Public Health specialties, students of the Scientific Circle “Public Health and Social Medicine”. Besides the researchers, teachers and students of TNMU, the specialists of regional laboratory centres and public health centres of the western region of Ukraine also joined the event.
Professor Timo Ulrichs (Akkon University of Human Sciences, Berlin, Germany) and Professor Hanna Saturska, the Head of the Department of Public Health and Health Management of TNMU, were scientific consultants and organizers of the 3rd German-Ukrainian webinar on “Management of SARS-CoV-2 outbreak / epidemic in Ukraine”.
Ms. Gabi Feldmann, Project Coordinator and Research Fellow in the IRIA, Akkon University of Human Sciences, Berlin, Germany, facilitated involvement of speakers and participants from Germany.
Professor Timo Ulrichs, the Director of the IRIA, Professor of Akkon University of Human Sciences, Berlin, Germany, an experienced WHO expert, expanded on the current detection and monitoring of COVID-19 in Germany and other European countries, relations between public health institutions and health policy.
The professor of Akkon University of Human Sciences, Berlin, highlighted aspects of internal and external communication and interaction between health care facilities and public health institutions, organization of information and prevention campaigns, control measures and their consequences for various sectors of public health, and presented in detail the organization of emergency response, ambulance, transportation of patients with COVID-19. Professor Timo Ulrichs shared his experience on how to prepare a medical facility during a COVID-19 outbreak, how to organize and distribute patients, sort patients effectively, ensure their safety as well as medical staff, and provide effective control of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
The Director of European Mission and International Relations of ABDA e.V. (Federal Union of German Pharmacists Associations), curator of the Johanniterstift Berlin-Tegel, Dr. Jens Gobrecht, Master of Public Health, Master of Business Administration, expanded on “Four Tesis on Medical Supply in the Pandemic”. He described in detail the peculiarities of the development of a decentralized drug supply system in Germany, which proved to be very crisis-resistant.
Dr. Jens Gobrecht shared with the participants of the webinar the experience of solving the problem of inability for patients to obtain timely prescriptions for long-term use due to the high incidence of doctors infection during the COVID-19 outbreak. This problem was solved by organization of constant telephone consultations with general practitioners, who, despite being in quarantine, wrote electronic prescriptions and, as a result, some patients with chronic diseases were supplied with necessary drugs. Pharmacies also responded quickly with the immediate introduction of an infection protection regime adapting to highly variable numbers of patients.
The aspects of SARS-CoV-2 outbreak / epidemic regional management in Ukraine were highlighted by Oksana Chaichuk, the Chief State Sanitary Doctor of Ternopil Oblast, the Acting Director of Ternopil Regional Laboratory Centre of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, Ternopil, Ukraine, in the report on “Management of the COVID-19 epidemic response in Ternopil region”. She emphasized that in a short period of time in Ukraine there was an urgent need to develop regulations, attracting financial investments, strengthening the health care (readiness of health care facilities, logistics, supply with consumables, medical protective equipment, effective laboratory diagnostics). In each region, the situation depended on management decisions and sound administration, i.e. planning, organizing, providing, monitoring, coordinating human, technological and financial resources to fight COVID-19. A timely response of the Ternopil Regional Laboratory Centre contributed to control over the disease spread in the region and reduced the consequences for the population.
Oksana Chaichuk, the Chief State Sanitary Doctor of Ternopil Region, presented the information campaign on fighting COVID-19, in particular in the media and Internet, the COVID-19 telephone hotline, a qualified advisory assistance to the population of the region by doctors-epidemiologists of Ternopil Regional Laboratory Centre and many other topical issues on epidemiological monitoring, organization, development and improvement of the laboratory sector for verification of infectious diseases as a priority of biosafety in Ukraine.
The audience found the presentations of all speakers very interesting and took part in discussions on topical issues of SARS-CoV-2 outbreak / epidemic management in Germany and other European countries, as well as in Ukraine and regions. Vaccination, forecasts and the problems we faced were also discussed and the conclusions were made on the fighting the pandemic at the global and regional levels.
The interpretation for the bilingual webinar (in Ukrainian and in English) was provided by TNMU experts: Yurii Petrashyk, Anastasiia Bohutska, Diana Collins and Hanna Saturska.
Technical support for the webinars was provided by Natalia Slobodian, Associate Professor of the Department of Public Health and Health Care Management of TNMU. All webinar participants received certificates.
All comments, wishes and feedback on this series of German-Ukrainian webinars should be sent to saturska@tdmu.edu.ua.
We appreciate successful organization of the events and participants joining into the series of German-Ukrainian webinars on the topical issues of Fighting COVID-19 and the Responding of Health Care Systems in Ukraine and Around the World to the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic! We hope for further fruitful cooperation.