Abdus Salam Khan, MD FACP – November, 2015
Disasters are usually explained as any unwanted or unplanned event that exceeds the coping abilities of the people that experience it. It can happen at individual, regional or at national level. Catastrophe is any event that is not in our control and can happen at any time. Usually these are unannounced events and test the person’s coping skills if at personal level or a nation’s ability and preparedness if that happens at national level. Although synonymous, I am separating them a bit to help me explain my point.
Nations prepares their citizens to cope with any Catastrophe so as to prevent it from being converted into a disaster. They work hard, think proactive and plan early and at all levels to decrease the impact catastrophe ,limit the population exposed, limit secondary damage and promote early rehabilitation of the community effected. They have to be ready all the time.
History especially of the recent past tells us that, we in Pakistan face catastrophes very frequently and most of the time they turn into a disaster with our limited resources and deficient infrastructure. We struggle to minimize the effects of the disaster and then continue the rehabilitation process till next catastrophe is around the corner about to knock our doors. This increases feeling of insecurity as well as helplessness and reliance on our Government.
Looking at the efforts and energy consumed to deal with these disasters, it is obvious that most of the efforts gets wasted and citizen remain unsatisfied about way their problem was handled. We need to help our citizen more and also need to change our thinking from reactive to proactive. Half of the battle will be won if we are well prepared.
In any catastrophe the medical limb revolves around good emergency skills including quick triage. All the surgeries, rehabilitation and other effort can be wasted efforts if the patients were not properly resuscitated, properly triaged or properly disposed.
Each time when we face a catastrophe we have seen enormous energy and cohesiveness among the ordinary citizens, but it still does not carry over to the system, to better equip ourselves for the next episode.
Our push is to have trained emergency department staff in terms of physicians and nurses to better equip us both in times of peace and ease and also in times of disasters and catastrophe.
The trained staff in regional emergency department in small towns and villages would be effective first responders, early initiators of meaningful triage and also early starters of life or limb saving procedures and pathways. Their efforts will result in decreased economic burden after any disaster while we will initiate the ways to plan in risk reduction for our communities.
It is time now that all people give a push to the system of “trained staff for the time critical patients”. If we make our government realize that the best chance that we can give our sick patient’s is standardized emergency care.
Our Country requires us to think about our family, friends and fellow citizens and we should work collectively to dispense our duty towards our motherland. It will make our Country stand out and make us feel proud.
You can reach me at ERDOC @shifa.com.pk