Disaster as defined
by World Health Organization is a sudden ecologic phenomenon with sufficient
magnitude to require external assistance. In term of emergency care, it occurs
when the number of patients presenting in a given space of time are such that
the department unable to offer even minimal care for them without the presence
of external assistance.
Even a motorvehicular
accident involving six critically ill patient may cause a disaster to a
district hospital but a number of more than 20 casualties will bring difficult
time even to the best staffed trauma center.
Lahad Datu itself has experienced it's worst condition during the "2013
Lahad Datu Stand Off" in which the staff are not well trained for mass
casualties and disaster. Un equipped with proper instrument and inadequate well
trained personnel definetely give us a hard time hence require mobilization of
personnel from whole Sabah as well as from Semenanjung. We definetely learn
something valuable there.
But again, it is not
sole disaster that may occur. The geographical of Sabah itself possess significant threat. The
slippery and poor condition of the road may predispose to massive motor
vehicular accident as may happen before. But again, we need to consider a
disaster caused by the natural disaster as well.
Technically, Sabah is quite safe from event like Tsunami as it is
bounded by Philiphines' group of Islands. However, in the future, it is hard
for us to predict that disaster will not occur. As for example, on 4th May
2011, a small scale earthquake with 3.3
magnitude has been detected near the Lahad Datu with the epicentre located 70km southwest of
the town. There is a fear that we might experience a higher magnitude
earthquake and this has been proved to be true. On 5 June 2015, an earthquake
oh 6.0 magnitude has affected West Coast Sabah particularly Ranau and
surrounded area. 18 people has died in this unfortunate event.
Upon realising about lack of preparedness in facing
disaster especially during the Lahad Datu Stand Out, the very first structured
disaster training For East Coast Sabah’s Healthcare Provider has been conducted
on 20th to 21st August 2014 by Kelab Rekreasi &
Kebajikan Jabatan Kecemasan dan Trauma, Hospital Lahad Datu (Kelab Rakan) and
Jabatan Kesihatan Negeri Sabah. This event taking place in Taliwas Forestry
Recreational Area Lahad Datu, Menara Kayangan Lahad Datu and Pantai Lamag Lahad
Datu.
This inaugural event would not be successful without great partnership from Jabatan Kecemasan dan
Trauma Hospital Tawau, Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCOM), SAPURA, Jabatan
Bomba dan Penyelamat Lahad Datu, Pasukan Gerakan Am Batallion 17 Lahad Datu,
Jabatan Pertahanan Awam Malaysia and Sabah Forestry Department. A total of 74
interagency personnel involves in making the course successful.
This event receives participation of six
team from hospitals of east coast Sabah and one observer team from Hospital
Queen Elizabeth. Each team consist of four team members compose of 1 Medical
Officer, 1 Medical Assistant, 1 Staff Nurse and 1 Driver. Total number of 28
healthcare provider has been trained during the event Some of the participants
has been selected to represent state of Sabah in International Major Incident Response
Exercise Competition (iMIREX) 2014 The feedback received
from the program is available in Reports
On D.A.R.E Medic 2014. Among the feedback that we receive includes; poor
knowledge among participants regarding disaster, no proper standardise module,
not enough experienced facilitators and trainers, poor time management, and
lack of safety measures during the exercise.
For the past 25
years, natural disaster have claimed approximately 3.5 millions live worldwide
and affecting the lives of at least 1 billion people with property damages
exceeding 50 billions.
Surrounded by deep
rain forest and tourist center like Tabin Wildlife, Danum Valley, Waterfall and
the coastal region with diving sports, this tourism industry is blooming. In a
future, we are expecting that more tourist will come and this will also invite
a possible unfortunate events.
Therefore, we need to
train our personnel to be prepared and having a standard operation procedure if
any of this misfortune happen.
The training shall
include range of activities in disaster and rescue. And this program is
invented so that we may train our staff to be well prepared in term of pre
hospital skills for effective disaster management encompasses of navigation
skills, first aid management in field, and extrication of victim from the
disaster side.
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