Media Release
Abu Dhabi, May 5: “To be prepared is half the victory” said Miguel de Cervantes, a fifteenth century Spanish writer.
In the light of ever increasing natural and man-made disasters happening in our area of the world, it is incumbent that hospitals be better prepared to receive a sudden massive influx of patients. Recognizing also that the Health Authority of Abu Dhabi is finalizing a plan which includes the private hospitals, Dr.C.R.Shetty, Medical Director of Abu Dhabi, NMC Hospital Abu Dhabi and Group Medical Director of NMC healthcare, decided to take a pro-active step in this direction.
NMC Specialty hospital has conducting a mock “emergency disaster management” drill on Friday, the 30th of April, 2010 with the help of the Civil Defense. A mock disaster was simulated and NMC hospital used its own staff to be “patients”. Managing Director of NMC Group, Dr. B. R. Shetty, triggered the drill to action at 8 am
As a first step Dr. Gamal Bebars, Specialist General Surgeon and Chief Disaster Officer, who has several years of experience in disaster management and recently joined NMC Specialty hospital, Abu Dhabi, developed an Emergency Drill Plan. The plan incorporated elements of various best practices in emergency disaster management from around the world. After it was approved, all staffs were trained in the emergency plan. The mock drill was the testing of this plan. Careful groundwork was done to ensure that various kinds of patients can be managed. Various parts of the hospital were prepared to receive patients of varying seriousness. “Patients” were triaged in the main lobby and transported immediately to waiting teams in the treatment zones. In order to minimize disruption in the normal processes of healing, the drill was scheduled early in the morning on Friday, among other measures. The whole drill was audited by administrative and medical observers who gave their written feedback. Also, videographers recorded all phases of the drill. During the subsequent feedback meeting the auditors gave their feedback. The videos were also audited to check for areas of improvement. Accordingly, the Emergency drill plan was updated.
The entire objective of the exercise was to be able to quickly and correctly identify the influx of patients, distribute them to the treatment zones and accurately manage their treatment needs. As Dr. B. R. Shetty, Managing Director and CEO of NMC Healthcare, frequently reminds – “we want to be the trusted provider of comprehensive healthcare services in the city of Abu Dhabi”. This was another effort in that direction.