PHCC tests capabilities in managing mass casualty incidents

The Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) conducted a readiness exercise to enhance its capacity for managing mass casualty incidents. The exercise was carried out across six PHCC health centres: Al Sadd, Leabaib, Al Mashaf, Qatar University, Muaither, and Al Wajbah.Mass casualty incidents pose significant challenges to healthcare systems, requiring effective preparedness and response strategies. Such incidents can result from natural disasters, terrorist attacks, unnatural accidents, or pandemics, leading to an overwhelming number of victims that exceed the capacity of local emergency services.The primary goal of the comprehensive mass casualty management exercise was to evaluate the performance of the current system in handling a mass casualty incident affecting PHCC health centres. It aimed to validate the effectiveness of existing plans and protocols, identify strengths to reinforce, address weaknesses, and enhance collaboration and communication across departments to achieve shared goals.The exercise aimed to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the Major Incident Command Centre in activating, coordinating, and managing health centres during mass casualty incidents. It also aimed to evaluate the ability of community healthcare centre and emergency response team to effectively activate and manage clinical operations, resource allocation, security services, and business continuity during a mass casualty incident.The exercise simulated a realistic mass casualty incident using a scenario that involved role-playing by real actors to mimic the impact of the event on health centres. In addition to the six health centres, the exercise also engaged MICC and lasted approximately seven hours.The exercise aims to achieve increased readiness and capacity to respond to mass emergencies within PHCC health centres; improved collaboration protocols and communication systems among various departments among other objectives.