National authorities asked the international community to send trained, self-sufficient medical teams, applying international standards to provide a rapid and effective response to victims in the affected areas through orderly arrival and distribution
Quito, April 25, 2016 (PAHO / WHO) - Some 22 Emergency Medical Teams (EMT), five of them international, were deployed this week in Ecuador to provide medical assistance to the victims of the earthquake that hit the country April 16, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale,. The coordination of these trained, self-sufficient teams has been key to saving lives and ensuring rapid and effective aid to earthquake victims in affected areas.
Following World Health Organization (WHO) international standards for emergency medical teams, which aim for orderly arrival and distribution of health care teams, Ecuadorian health authorities asked the international community to ensure that medical teams which come to the country are well trained and self-sufficient, to meet the needs of the populations affected by the earthquake which struck the northern coast. Ecuador is the first country to implement these international standards to manage emergency medical teams.
When the earthquake struck, Ecuador deployed national emergency medical teams, made up of orthopedic surgeons, emergency specialists, surgeons, nurses, psychologists and other specialists. In the first 24 hours, CICOM, an information and medical coordination cell, was activated to coordinate the mobilization and operation of the equipment, and register offers that met minimum international requirements established by WHO. Through April 25, this mechanism has coordinated the deployment of 28 national emergency medical teams and five international EMT (Germany, Colombia, Spain, United States and Peru) to the most affected areas.
"The response of international medical teams in emergency situations is key and should be governed by international standards of technical quality," said Ciro Ugarte, director of Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Relief of the Pan American Health Organization / World Health Organization (PAHO / WHO). "Saving lives, preventing disabilities and protecting the health of those affected by the emergency is the primary goal of the work of these medical teams, so it is essential to follow these standards," he said.
These standards seek to organize the arrival of these teams resulted from lessons learned in the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Although many medical teams arrived then to save lives, others came to the affected area without prior coordination or lacking the tools or expertise needed to provide the care that the patients required.
PAHO convened experts and international partners to identify mechanisms and criteria to ensure that the medical teams mobilized in a disaster, arrive by request of the affected country and meet minimum quality requirements in health care and self-sufficiency in the management of equipment.
As part of these discussions, the countries of the Americas adopted a Plan of Action to coordinate humanitarian assistance in the Americas in 2014. This plan recommends the implementation of national mechanisms for registration and coordination for emergency medical teams, and establishes minimum criteria for receiving and sending them. As part of this plan, three days before the earthquake, PAHO and the Ministry of Public Health of Ecuador had conducted a national workshop in Quito to update procedures and tools to solicit and coordinate national and international teams.
Emergency medical teams are teams of health professionals including medical staff, nurses, physiotherapists, paramedics, and others that provide direct clinical care to populations affected by emergencies and disasters. They can be deployed by governments or non-governmental organizations. They have a very important role in providing services after a disaster, especially when national services are overloaded or structures are affected.
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