Coventry University answers call to help the NHS
Raja Kamarudin Raja Idris, who is researching the relationship between cardiovascular disease and obesity for his PhD, is one of those who has volunteered and is ready to help UHCW when called upon.
Coventry University and its students are answering the call to help the NHS in the fight against COVID-19.
As the country goes into lockdown, more than 25 PhD students and research staff have volunteered to help University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) with testing patients for COVID-19 in the coming weeks.
The university has also drawn up a list of equipment it could provide to the NHS to help it increase the number of tests it can carry out.
“At the moment the lab is closed and with this madness surrounding COVID-19 I just wanted to help in any way that I could. I told them I’m available if they need me, even if that’s just ushering people about at the hospital.”
Many of the volunteers are overseas students who cannot get home and want to help our local NHS services, which will be under growing pressure during the outbreak.
Coventry University already trains hundreds of student nurses and allied healthcare professionals every year through its Faculty of Health and Life Sciences in Coventry and its CU campus in Scarborough – many of whom work on placements with local NHS trusts.
Some of the duties the student volunteers are capable of carrying out include extraction of DNA and RNA, which will then be tested for the COVID-19 strain.
Raja Kamarudin Raja Idris, who is researching the relationship between cardiovascular disease and obesity for his PhD, is one of those who has volunteered and is ready to help UHCW when called upon.
He said: “At the moment the lab is closed and with this madness surrounding COVID-19 I just wanted to help in any way that I could.”
“I told them I’m available if they need me, even if that’s just ushering people about at the hospital.”
