On 4 February, the Medical Unit of the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) delivered an online training course on Basic Life Support (BLS) for a group of 47 health workers from Kosovo, who will be involved in the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. This online BLS session is part of a two-day course organized by the Immunization Department of Kosovo’s National Institute of Public Health (NIPHK), with the support of WHO/UNICEF.

The objective of the training course was to equip the Primary Health Care workers with the ability to undertake resuscitation in a real clinical situation at the level at which they would be expected to perform, whether they are a lay bystander, a first responder in the community or hospital, a healthcare professional working in an acute area, or a member of the medical emergency or cardiac arrest response team in times of COVID-19.

The course, which was held entirely online, was taught by EULEX’s medical instructors, who are certified by European Resuscitation Council (ERC). The course started with an on-site real-time demonstration of BLS followed by a theoretical presentation of the BLS protocols of the ERC, which have been adapted to COVID-19 pandemic. The last part of the course consisted of a step by step demonstration of BLS protocol and an interactive Q&A session among the participants and the instructors. 

EULEX’s cooperation with the NIPHK will continue with similar training courses with the ultimate goal of training around 600 local health workers involved in the COVID-19 vaccination campaign.