Shillong, Jan 23: With the hospitals in the country are under scanner from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for its unpreparedness to deal with during the natural calamities, the Hospital authorities in Meghalaya have been asked to furnish a master plan for mass casualty preparedness within eight weeks to ensure hospitals and other healthcare facilities are safe from disasters, NDMA member Muzzafar Ahmed today said.
Conducting a three-day workshop on hospital safety, mass casualty management and hospital disaster management planning, attended by leading doctors of government hospitals, the BSF hospital, Army hospitals and private hospitals in the state, the National Disaster Management Authority aims at looking forward to create more awareness among the hospital authorities and prepare them for any untoward incidents.
Ahmed said hospitals are the lifelines where people would be brought in huge numbers when a disaster like that of floods, earthquakes, major fire, landslips strike. 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.
Ahmed said the NDMA and the state government would again hold a review on the status of these hospitals with regards to disaster management planning after eight weeks.
Meanwhile, the state government said it was conducting a week-long training for its master trainers in March.
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.
The trainers would then train other engineers in the districts and sub-divisions where they would assess and help in mitigating disaster risks in lifeline buildings like schools, churches and shopping complexes.(SP News)
