Counselling Service: Training To Be Conducted For Medical Social Workers

The Ministry of Health and Sports is planning to establish a hotline number for providing awareness information for COVID-19. The service will be launched within a month once the approval was granted, the Deputy Director General of Yangon Region Public Health and Medical Services Department said during a press conference on Sunday.

He added that plans are underway to conduct training for the staff from the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement and the Ministry of Health and Sports to act as the Medical Social Workers. They will provide counselling service for those who have to go under quarantine.

Deputy Director General, Public Health and Medical Services Department (Yangon Region), Dr. Tun Myint said “Those who have to go under quarantine feel sorry and some make reaction. In order to reduce their mental feeling, we need to provide counselling service. The Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement will act as the focal for this tasks. We plan to conduct training to 20 staff form MSWRR and 20 from MoHS starting 1st April. The trained staff will provide counselling tasks at the airports and the places of necessary.”

At present, there are 48 Persons under Investigation and they are being monitored at 15 hospitals in Yangon Region.

41 people under hospital quarantine are also being monitored at Waibargi Specialist Hospital, South Okkalapa Women and Children Hospital, South Dagon Hospital, East Dagon Hospital and KyaukTan Hospital respectively.

For the hotel quarantine, 583 people are being arranged at Yangon Airport Hotel, 7th Mile Hotel,Gandamar Hotel, Myanmar Life Hotel, ShwePyaySanYar Hotel, City Hotel and City Golf Resort Hotel respectively.

There are also 1372 people under the facility quarantine, and they have been accommodated at 15 places.

Director, Yangon Region Government Office, Moe Hein said “Yangon Region Government takes full responsibility for those who undergo the facility quarantine. We provide 15 items of assistance for their basic needs. The regional government also designated 100,000 kyats each for 14 days meal allowance. For those who arrived back Myanmar via land route, the community based quarantine has been arranged in coordination with the related district or township committees.”

There are a total of 10 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Myanmar, according to the announcement of the Ministry of Health and Sports as of 29th March.