PGIMER to conduct training on management of public health emergencies

CHANDIGARH: The department of Community Medicine and School of Public Health, PGIMER with National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, New Delhi is conducting a training on Management of Public Health Emergencies for the District Health Officers (DHO’s) of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Chandigarh. In the first batch will include DHO’s of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh from Monday to Oct 26th. The objective of this training is to enhance the knowledge and skills of the District Health Officers for preparedness of public health emergencies.

“In India, out of 36 States and Union Territories (UTs), 27 are disaster-prone. 58.6% landmass is prone to earthquakes of moderate to very high intensity; 12% land is prone to flood and river erosion; out of 7,516 km coastline, 5,700 km is prone to cyclones and tsunamis; 68% of the cultivable land is vulnerable to drought, hilly areas are at risk from landslides and avalanches, and 15% of the landmass is prone to landslides. States like Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh are more prone for earthquakes and landslides whereas floods are more common in Punjab,” said Dr PVM Lakshmi, Professor (Epidemiology), PGI.

About 30 DHO’s from Punjab and Himachal Pradesh will be attending the training. There will be 21 resource persons involved in the training from various institutes and organisations like Punjab University, National Disaster Response Force, Air Force Medical Services, Directorate of Health Services (Punjab), Department of Education (Chandigarh) and Fire Station (Chandigarh).

The participants will be trained in the concept of hazard and disaster, National Policy and Act on disaster management and Incident Response System. All the participants will be taught how the district and hospitals will respond to disasters like earthquakes, floods, fire accidents, landslides, chemical accidents and biological warfare etc, All participants will be expected to prepare or improve the district and hospital disaster management plan once they reach back to their respective districts or hospitals. Participants will be given hands-on training on developing skills to deal with real-time situations in any disaster. Videos related to various disasters and their preparedness and response will be shown to the participants. For the hands-on training, the participants will be exposed to mock drills at National Disaster Response Force station Panchkula, Fire Station Chandigarh and School drills.

Concept of triage and minimal relief packages during public health emergencies will also be introduced to the participants. Further, the training will help prepare district officials to make decisions and respond efficiently for the district in a timely manner during floods, nuclear & radiological events, tsunami, drought & heatwave, landslides, avalanches and earthquake situations.