THE HMC EMERGENCY DISASTER PLAN

The A/E department was opened soon after the opening of Hamad General Hospital in the early 1980’s. The department has expanded since then to maintain the high standard of care expected of it.

When the new trauma room was opened in mid November 1997,it was made to comply with the most recent developments in trauma care containing 7 beds, ultrasound machine. A new ceiling-mounted x-ray machine will soon be installed.

We are in the process of upgrading our trauma management system. A trauma team from A/E doctors was established to deal with all trauma cases. A major disaster plan has been formulated to be used in mass casualty situations. The following is a summary of that plan.

In case of major casualty incident or disaster the following responses should be followed in the explained order.

Information about any disaster should reach the Chairman of Accident/Emergency & EMS Dept. through the EMS Communication Center or through Civil Defense informing him of :-

Type of incident
Location of incident
Approximate number of patients involved
General clinical condition of involved persons
Expected time of arrival in the hospital
Name of the caller
Time notified

The following are eligible to activate disaster code :-

1. The Managing Director

2. The Medical Director

3. The Chairman of A/E & EMS Dept.

4. Asst. Chairman of A/E & EMS in the occasion of the absence of the Chairman of A/E & EMS.

 TYPE OF DISASTER SITUATIONS IN QATAR

The external disaster plan was formulated in the assumption that two different types of response would be necessary to meet the types of disaster that could possibly occur in Qatar.

The two types are :

• TYPE 1 RESPONSE

• TYPE II RESPONSE

TYPE 1 RESPONSE or ( PHASE I CODE)
This will be called upon the occurrence of a disaster involving more than 5 and less than 15 casualties . This is called "Major Casualty Incident" (MCI)

In this case the following response will be followed :-

1. The most Senior Surgical Staff of A/E on duty at the time will activate Trauma code.

2. The Chairman of A/E will be informed immediately of the incident.

3. The Chairman of A/E will in turn inform the following about the incident:-

a - Chairman-Department of Surgery
b - Asst. Chairman Department of Surgery
c - Chairman of Anesthesia Dept.
d - Any Other person deemed necessary to be involved.

The Chairman of Surgery & or Asst. Chairman of Surgery and Chairman of Anesthesia Dept. will call upon the necessary medical staff required for that particular incident.

TYPE II RESPONSE or (PHASE II CODE)

Represent a General mobilization of the Corporations manpower and resources on the occurrence of a major disaster involving more than 15 Casualties.

 Upon receiving the information about the disaster by any of the following :-

• The Corporation's Managing Director

• The Medical Director

• Chairman of A/E & EMS

• Assistant Chairman of A/E & EMS (In the absence of the Chairman of A/E)

The disaster code will be activated as follows :-
PROCEDURE OF DISASTER CODE ACTIVATION

1. The Bleep Station will be called at the numbers 2158 or the direct Number 436555.

2. An order will be given to the Bleep Station operator to activate the disaster code by one of the above mentioned 4 personnel.

3. The operator of the Bleep Station will ask the caller about the secret code which is known only to the above mentioned four personnel.
   

4. The Disaster Code will be activated immediately by the Bleep Station Operator.

5. The code involves the activation of the bleep with the Disaster code alert ( 1 1 1 1 1 1) & the sentence (Disaster   Code is activated ) which will be repeated three times.

6. The whole process of activation i.e. using the code alert ( 111111) and the sentence will be repeated 5 times.

7. For those staff who do not carry HMC Bleeps and carry Q/Tel Bleeps, they will be notified by a bleep done in the A/E followed by the numbers (111111). This will be repeated three times.

THE RESPONSE OF THE CORPORATION STAFF TO THE DISASTER CODE :

First : - Response of the staff of A/E

1. The medical and the Nursing staff of A/E on duty at the time of occurrence of the disaster will attend to the patients and do the necessary actions according to the protocol of the disaster plan until the other staff arrive.

2. The in-charge nurse of the A/E at time of the disaster will do the necessary actions in order to bring more A/E Nursing staff to the Department according to the disaster protocol.

3. The Disaster Control Center will be opened in the assigned area which is the Old Cardiac room just beside the  Trauma room in the A/E Dept..

 Second :- the response of the other staff of the corporation

Upon receiving the Disaster Code Alert, the following will report immediately to the Control Room located in A/E:

All the departments' Chairmen and Heads
Director of Nursing Dept.
Director of Pharmacy
Director of Laboratory
The in-charge of the blood bank
Assistant Hospital Director for HGH
Administrator for HGH
Asst. Hospital. Director for Support Services
Director of Public Relation
Director of Admitting
Head of Security
Head of Communication
Head of Transport
Safety Officer
Head of Warehouse

All General Surgeons and all Anesthetists will report immediately to the doctors room located at the
Department of A/E awaiting further instruction.

All the other Medical , Surgical & Nursing staff will report to their respective departments and await further instructions from their respective Chairmen , Heads or Directors.

Please note the following :-

A - Upon receiving the disaster code alert, staff should not call the bleep station nor the A/E Department but should respond according to the Disaster Protocol summarized above.
B - The Chairman of A/E is the General Disaster Coordinator responsible for the over all functions of the Disaster Plan.
C - The primary function of the Control Center is to coordinate the overall operation of the Disaster Plan.
D - Hamad Medical Corporation ID card should be worn by all the staff when coming to the hospital.
E - In case of disaster all those staff who are required to attend at the A/E Dept., should use the A/E entrance. All the other HMC staff who are supposed to report to their respective departments should use the main entrance.
F - All non-urgent and elective surgical admissions should be stopped and only emergency admissions should be
permitted.
G - The Head of Security and his staff in the HMC must enforce tight security measures during any disaster.

Prepared by :
Dr. Abdul Wahab Al Musleh,
Chairman of A/E & EMS Department
Hamad General Hospital