by: Bilquis Rehman
General Manager, ICR & Advocacy
Department
The seminar was
organized to focus on the expert opinion from Dr. Samad Billoo, on existing practices and challenges involved in
medical emergencies as part of daily occurrences across the country, Karachi
being prone to natural and manmade calamities, is badly suffering due to lack
of learning, sharing, regulations and systems. He highlighted the importance of
understanding “Structured Response Methodologies” for disaster and emergencies.
Dr. Shaikh Tanveer Ahmed, Chief Executive, HANDS, gave the welcome address and
presented HANDS approach on emergency relief to the audience.
In this regard, the
key stakeholders of Karachi medical emergencies were invited to present their
medical emergencies approaches. Mr. Salman Shah, DG Provincial Disaster
Management Auhtority, Sindh, Ms. Joan Dodman, USAID Health Specialist, Prof.
Saeed Qureshi from Civil Hospital, Dr. Junaid Razaque from Aman Foundation, Mr.
Ubaid Hashmi from Al-Mustafa Trust, Mr. M. Ramzan Chhipa from Chhipa Welfare
Association, Dr. M. Shahid from Indus Hospital, Dr. Seemi from Khidmat-e-Khalq
Foundation and Mr. Abdul Aziz from Al-Khidmat Welfare Society shared their
strengths, weaknesses, posed challenges, and gave recommendations.
Dr. Billoo briefed the
audience on technically equipped and trained appointed staff to work in
emergencies. According to him the inability to mitigate the disaster on the day
one occurs is failure of planning. “‘It will never happen to us’ is not an
acceptable excuse for the absence of adequate planning”, he remarked.
Dr. Billoo pointed out that during an
emergency there should be a major incident plan in place for every EMS provider
(ambulance service), each hospital that accepts emergencies, high risk venues, such
as sports stadiums and concert halls and a regional, provincial and national
plan for the coordination of resources on a wider scale.
Dr. Ghaffar Billoo,
Chairman HANDS, thanked the audience and urged to gather up for the needs of
Karachi and overall humanity.
Dr. Billoo has over 23
years’ experience in the Emergency Medical Services field and currently working
for ‘The Emergency Operations Centre
(EOC)’ in London, a consecutive award winning organization by the UK
government.