SHILLONG, JAN 23: The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has directed the hospital authorities in Meghalaya to furnish a master plan for mass casualty preparedness within two months.
“We have directed the hospital authorities including private run institutions to furnish a master plan on disaster management in their respective hospitals within eight weeks,” NDMA member Dr Muzzafar Ahmed told reporters after a workshop on Thursday.
Ahmed said the exercise is an effort to ensure that hospitals and healthcare facilities are safe from disasters and its consequences.
Ahmed conducted a three-day workshop on hospital safety, mass casualty management and hospital disaster management planning which was attended by leading doctors of government hospitals, the BSF hospital, Army hospitals and private hospitals in the state.
Ahmed said hospitals are the lifelines where people would be brought in huge numbers when a disaster — floods, earthquakes, major fire, landslips strikes. Hospitals should be structurally safe to withstand a disaster such as earthquake, but more importantly, a hospital should be able to function even after a disaster.
During the workshops, hospital officials were given hands-on training on forming a hospital safety committee, hazard analysis, having a well-thought out disaster preparedness and management plan (which included components for disaster mitigation and emergency response), protocols and regular training and mock drills for the staff.
Ahmed said the NDMA and the state government would again hold a one-day review on the status of these hospitals with regards to disaster management planning after eight weeks.
Ahmed said it was extremely important that the disaster management plan was revised periodically and the hospital staff put through regular drills to ensure that the plan could be executed well. – By Our Reporter
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