Sri Lanka concluded the National Emergency Medical Teams (EMT) awareness training on 28 August 2023 with the participation of national and sub-national stakeholders including Provincial and Regional Directors of Health Services, heads of curative health facilities, tri-forces, police, ‘Suwaseriya’ national ambulance service among others. This two-day workshop was a partnership between Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka and the World Health Organization (WHO) at country, regional and headquarters levels.
Aims of the sensitization training included broadening the participant understanding on the core concepts and functions of EMTs for national emergency response, global perspective of EMTs, categorization of EMTs, typology and accreditation. Further to this the workshop was also opportune to discuss the draft Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on National EMT team development and deployment based on the Rapid Response Team (RRT) and EMT Deployment Guidelines of 2022.
EMTs in Sri Lanka have played a crucial role in providing medical assistance and support during times of crisis and disasters. The devastating Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004 was a turning point for emergency medical response in Sri Lanka. The disaster highlighted the urgent need for a well-coordinated and robust emergency medical system. International organizations and foreign medical teams arrived to provide assistance, and their efforts led to increased emphasis on developing local EMT capabilities.
The purpose of the EMT initiative as underscored in the WHO EMT 2030 Strategy is to improve the timeliness and quality of health services provided by Emergency Medical Teams and enhance the capacity of national health systems in leading the activation and coordination of rapid response capacities in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, outbreak and/or another emergency.
Sri Lanka recognized the importance of having its own dedicated EMTs to respond effectively to emergencies and disasters. The country EMTs comprise of the EMTs attached to military tri-forces and those attached to civilian health services provided through Ministry of Health. These teams are composed of trained healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses, paramedics, and support staff, who are equipped to provide emergency medical care in disaster-affected areas.
This was the first National EMT awareness workshop conducted in Sri Lanka since the EMT initiative has been formalized. As a follow-up to the training, four action priorities namely; (1) establishment of a multi-stakeholder health emergency preparedness and response working group; (2) creating an EMT Steering Committee with function to provide policy level guidance for the establishment and management of EMT initiative in Sri Lanka; (3) advocacy for allocation of a specific and sustainable national budget line for EMT at Ministry of Health and provincial level and (4) piloting development of one EMT (type 1 mobile) at a teaching hospital; will be implemented in the coming months.
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Picture credit: WHO Sri Lanka