Disaster management training for doctors

A two-day training programme for medical officers was held at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) from Monday.

Conducted by the State Disaster Management Cell of the Public Health Department, the programme was part of a State Government initiative to make Tamil Nadu ‘Disaster Resilient’. Such programmes are being held all over the State. District Collector Archana Patnaik inaugurated the programme.

As many as 150 medical officers and paramedical staff of primary health centres, and Government hospitals took part.

V.R. Hari Balaji, a consultant of the State Disaster Management Cell conducted the training in which he briefed the participants about the nature of different emergencies such as the Kedarnath tragedy in which 3,940 persons died in floods, the multi-storeyed building collapse in Moulivakkam, Chennai and the 2004 tsunami that claimed over 12,000 lives in India.

Further, he also briefed the participants on how to respond to fire accidents, mass casualty emergencies and earthquake.

He also gave training on how to handle the relatives of the victims and the media as well.

S. Somasundaram, Deputy Director of Health Services, A. Edwin Joe, CMCH Dean, Dawood Fathima, Joint Director, Medical and Rural Services, and K. Santhosh Kumar, City Health Officer, took part.