Africa-Press – Mauritius. Twelve guidelines on specific communicable diseases under the budgetary support provided by the European Union (EU), were launched this morning by the Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Kailesh Jagutpal, in Port-Louis.
This initiative of the Ministry of Health and Wellness forms part of its activities aimed at reinforcing the health system in Mauritius. The World Health Organisation(WHO) Representative in Mauritius, Dr Laurent Musango, was also present on the occasion.
The guidelines including the management of A H1N1, Chikungunya and Dengue, will be published on the Virtual Health Library of the Mauritius Institute of Health.
In his address, Minister Kailesh Jagutpal underlined that the launching of the guidelines is another milestone in the management of Communicable diseases in Mauritius.
He stated that the guidelines will standardise the management of specific situations in both the public and private health sector and emphasised that our strength should reside in the ability to work in the same direction.
He commended the support of the EU through the Reinforcing Health Systems in the Republic of Mauritius project (REHSIMUS). We have benefited from a budget of Rs 380 million and the Ministry has already implemented various indicators namely, the COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Plan and the Health Sector Strategic Plan 2020-2024, he said.
Furthermore, the Health Minister highlighted that Mauritius as an Island State is exposed to various threats as far as communicable diseases are concerned.
The Communicable Disease Control Unit, he indicated, is living up to its mandate of reducing morbidity and mortality caused by infectious diseases. He added that to ensure early detection and control of outbreaks, Mauritius has established strong ties with neighboring countries.
As regards the COVID-19 pandemic, the Health Minister pointed out that the Public Health Sector is focused, since the past two years, on the management of the pandemic and that the country has moved cautiously and continuously adapted and readapted its response.
He expressed gratitude to friendly countries and organisations including the EU and the WHO for their support that has been instrumental to Mauritius to deal with the pandemic. As for the Head of Cooperation at the EU mission in Mauritius, Mr.
Stammer, he underlined that aim of the budget support program of 7.8 million EUR is to help Mauritius strengthen its public health system in order to react to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He emphasised that the programme has three main focuses, namely to detect by enhancing the testing capacity of COVID-19 and other epidemics, to treat by providing medical equipment to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and other serious diseases and to strengthen by training healthcare frontliners in the management of the pandemic and providing the necessary protocols for dealing with it.
In addition, Mr. Stammer underlined that the development of protocol and guidelines for healthcare professionals constitutes the third strand of the programme.
This, he said, will act as a key tool for health professionals to be consistent and coherent in the delivering of services and better equip them in responding to the pandemic.
