KIGALI - Rwandan and Kenyan paediatrics associations, have since October last year, trained 120 paediatricians in Emergency Triage Assessment and Treatment (ETAT) for children.

The program that saw the fourth batch of 30 paediatricians complete a five-day training on Friday carried out in collaboration with the Belgian Technical Cooperation (BTC) and the Imperial College UK.

Paediatricians are doctors who specialize in medical care for infants, children and adolescents. They include general and specialist paediatricians.

In an interview shortly after the training, one of the trainees attached to Muhima Hospital, Clarisse Niwenagabiye, said it would improve their profession.

"We were taught techniques of identifying children in critical conditions, so that we intervene swiftly,” Niwenagabiye said.

The paediatrician noted that there high risk of losing children in hospitals if doctors cannot identify that they are in critical conditions in order to receive priority treatment.

Others who attended the training were from King Faisal Hospital, Kibagabaga and Kigali University Teaching Hospital (CHUK).

ETAT coordinator in Kenya, Jason Kiruja, said the program aims at reducing infant mortality rate.

"Sometimes, children die in hospitals in the first 24 hours as a result of failure by doctors to identify their condition, especially after prolonged labour,” he said.

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