Consultant Physician / Firm - Emergency Home Based Clinical Care Services For Covid-19 Affected Staff and Families at Nutrition International

Career category: Human Resources

Background

• Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), that was first recognized in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, in December 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic has unprecedented effect on the health and socio-economic status of the world population.
• As of July 11th, 2021, 168,540 cases have been confirmed, 164,431 cases have recovered and 2,122 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. Since the first case was reported on the 27th of February 2020, in Nigeria, the Federal Government has taken several measures such as travel and gathering restrictions, use of Personal protective Equipment (PPE), signing of Coronavirus Disease 2019_(COVID19) _Health_Protection_Regulations_2021 by the president of Federal Republic of Nigeria and introduction of the COVID-19 vaccines for vulnerable population. The Government also developed numerous guidelines and policies including COVID-19 treatment protocol in Nigeria among other documents.
• At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria, cases and admission in various COVID-19 Isolation Centres and accredited hospitals across Nigeria increased significantly. Designated COVID-19 treatment centers reported shortage of supplies such as oxygen and ventilators to save the lives of patients with severe COVID-19. With cases of new variants of the virus increasing around the world and in Africa, there is the possibility of the number of severe cases increasing beyond the capacity of the health system in the coming months.
• Nutrition International (NI) has taken bold steps to ensure her staff wellbeing, safety and security in the last one year. Work from home (WFH) has been implemented globally over the last one year. NI also approved COVID-19 emergency funding to avail basic preventive measures such as PPE for staff.
• Furthermore, NI has a plan to implement home-based care approach to ensure the safety and wellbeing of staff in case hospitals become overcrowded due to overwhelming COVID-19 cases on the health system.

Rationale of Recruiting a Consultant Physician / Firm

• An increasing number of severe cases of COVID-19 in Nigeria could be beyond the capacity of COVID-19 treatment centers in the country. On the other hand, shortage of life saving medications and equipment could be a serious challenge for the country to save the lives of persons with severe cases of COVID-19.
• In line with its principle of ensuring adequate care of her staff, NI will provide support for staff affected by COVID-19, including assistance with emergency home-based care in case of health service failure.
• This will be through the hiring of a medical practitioner/firm to provide emergency home based care clinical services to affected NI staff and their immediate family members and prepositioning oxygen concentrator and other relevant commodities, as necessary.

The Purpose of Recruiting a Consultant Physician / Firm Include

• Provide prompt clinical services to severe cases of COVID-19 at home in the event of the health system getting overwhelmed.
• Arrange ambulance and critical care emergency service when moving staff or dependents to hospitals or other centers as required.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities of the Consultant Physician
Checklist for the consultant’s scope of Work & Activities:

• Provide lifesaving clinical services for critical and severe cases of COVID-19
• Consultant to develop a list of essential medicine/supplies in line with Nigeria’s COVID_19 Treatment protocol.
• Provide prompt medical response and administer lifesaving medications such as IV fluids, antibiotics, antipyretics and corticosteroids in line with Nigeria’s COVID-19 treatment protocol. The consultant physician is responsible for procuring and administering the lifesaving medications.
• Administer oxygen to critical/severe cases at home as per the national guideline. Oxygen concentrator will be provided by NI.
• Provide follow up care as required
• Provide emergency medical evacuation services
• Arrange emergency medical evacuation in the event of a case of serious illness from COVID-19 or complications requiring urgent medical care in a facility.

Key Deliverables and Timeline:
Deliverables:

• Weekly update report including treatment outcomes of patients to the Country Director
• Report on each case managed within 3 days of providing care.
• Simplified home-based care protocol including use of oxygen concentrator in line with relevant COVID-19 guidelines.

Timeframe: August 2021

Qualifications of the Consultant

• The consultant physician should have a Fellowship in internal medicine (subspecialty - Infectious disease) from West Africa College of Physician (FWACP) or National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (FNPMC) and a Medical Degree (MBBS) (MD) from a recognized University.
• He/she should be a certified clinician with current annual practicing medical license and have not less than 5 years’ experience of providing clinical services in Nigeria with background training and experience in the management of COVID -19.

Reporting and Working Hours:

• The consultant physician shall report to the Country Director weekly. He shall work on call basis as needed based on the availability of patients.

Duration of Consultancy Service and Contract Period:

• The consultant will be engaged on need basis.

Selection / Remuneration

• The Consultant Physician or Firm will be recruited through a competitive bidding process.
• The consultant or firm shall submit a technical proposal (based on the above objectives and scope of work) and financial proposal (based on cost of consultation / patient and cost of medicines and supplies for COVID-19 treatment) to NI.