IHHN Successfully Hosts Inaugural Rabies PEP Workshop with Sindh Government

The Indus Hospital and Health Network (IHHN) has been at the forefront of preventing rabies. With a state-of-the-art Rabies Prevention and Training Center at the Korangi Campus, IHHN treats thousands of dog bite patients annually and saves them from fatal rabies. In addition to this, IHHN partnered with the Sindh Government in April 2023 to augment rabies prevention centers in emergency departments (ED) of government health facilities throughout Sindh.

Under the partnership, IHHN is providing hands-on Postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) training for ED healthcare professionals as per WHO’s current recommendations on rabies PEP, and post-training Monitoring & Evaluation of all the centers. The Health Departments-Government of Sindh are facilitating the organization of the workshops and arranging all the essential facilities and supplies at the respective hospitals.

The inaugural Rabies PEP workshop took place from July 5-7, 2023. The workshop included over 13 ED healthcare providers, including doctors, nurses, paramedics, and pharmacists, from the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) and Children’s Hospital North Karachi – Government of Sindh, who undertook the rigorous 3-day training encompassing lectures, conceptual learning, theoretical background, and interactive sessions followed by hands-on training. Pre and post-evaluations were also conducted. IHHN provided all learning materials, which were also made available for participants after the end of the workshop. 

The workshop was successful in honing the participants into Master Trainers, who will go on to train other healthcare workers in their domain on the correct management of rabies cases. The closing ceremony for the workshop took place on July 7, 2023.

Speaking at the occasion, Dr. Bushra Nasir, ER Consultant at Children’s Hospital North Karachi – Government of Sindh, said, “The clinics were amazing and helped to clear so many misunderstandings. We plan to trickle this information to the other providers we work with. There was a great effort from Mr. Aftab and the team at Indus, who made this workshop a wonderful experience.”

Several chief guests whose efforts contributed to the success of the inaugural workshop were also present at the ceremony, including Dr. Abdul Bari Khan, President of IHHN; Dr. Naseem Salahuddin, Head of the Infectious Disease Department at IHHN; Dr. Saqib Shaikh, Additional Director at Health Department, Government of Sindh; and Mr. Aftab Gohar, Manager at Rabies Prevention & Training Center, IHHN.

Dr. Naseem Salahuddin thanked Dr. Saqib and his esteemed colleagues for arranging the supplies, Rabies facilities and helping in organizing the inaugural workshop, which took months in the making, “This is the first time we have had such active participation from the Health Department, and we hope to continue this fruitful partnership. We plan to hold two workshops each month which will go on as needed so that all government facilities across Sindh are fully equipped and trained.”

Addressing the participants, Dr. Naseem went on to emphasize their role, “Those who are victims of dog bites, their lives are now in your hands. You will be the life savers.”

At the end of the event, Dr. Abdul Bari Khan took the stage and distributed certificates to all the participants. The second Rabies PEP workshop is set to take place next week with participants from Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) and JPMC. The workshops will be ongoing.