CUTTACK: With Covid-19 posing a challenge in treatment of critical patients requiring oxygen, the SCB Medical College and Hospital will offer a course on Respiratory Therapy to churn out trained personnel in the field. The course will start from the current 2021-22 session.
The State government has approved 20 seats for the one-year certificate course on Respiratory Therapy. The course will be offered by the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Pulmonary Medicine department. “While the basic qualification for pursuing the certificate course on Respiratory Therapy is Plus Two Science pass, nurses having requisite qualification too can get enrolled in it. It has also been planned to offer a three-year-degree course in Respiratory Therapy,” said Head of Pulmonary Medicine department Prof Manoranjan Patnaik.
He said the concept of the course has been derived from the United States of America where ICUs and ventilators are managed by respiratory therapists. “The course is meant to address the problem we are facing in managing Covid units due to shortage of trained manpower to monitor and handle ICUs and ventilators,” he said.
The course will help nurses in monitoring patients, ICUs and ventilators and play a vital role in treatment of Covid patients. “Apart from the course curriculum, training will be imparted on different diagnostic techniques like bronchoscopy, thoracoscopic and endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) and pulmonary function test (PFT) procedures,” said Prof Patnaik, adding candidates pursuing the course would get employment opportunities in both government as well as private hospitals.
Since the State government has declared SCB as the nodal centre for post-Covid management, high quality health rehabilitation services are being provided by the CoE. It is the first in Eastern India to have an EBUS machine with radial probe facility which has been operating since June and helps in diagnosing lung cancer and other pulmonary diseases, Prof Patnaik informed. He said the curriculum for the certificate course is on lines of few other medical colleges in the country.
Course details