An assessment of emergency prepardness of secondary and tertiary care institutions of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Sri Lanka is a country which faces frequent man made as well as natural disasters. Although every hospital needs a mass casualty management plan, little information exists about the availability of a proper pl The aim of this study was to describe the mass casualty incidents experienced by secondary and tertiary health care institutions in Sri Lanka and to assess the current situation of preparedness to manage a rush of casualties. This was a descriptive study. All secondary and tertiary care hospitals in Sri Lanka were assessed using a closed ended mailed questionnaire. Statistical processing of the data was done using SPSS and Microsoft office Excel software and data analysis was done by descriptive statistics. Out of the 43 secondary and tertiary care institutions, 37 responded to the questionnaire. (86%) Results show that about 97% of hospitals have a past experience with emergency situations .Road traffic accidents (25.18%), bomb blasts (16.55%), droughts (12.95%) and floods (12.23%) are the commonest incidents where casualties were brought to the hospitals. The majority of hospitals (54%) have disaster preparedness plans. 45% of institutions with a proper plan do not have adequate resources and only 55% of the staff is fully aware of the plan. Only 30% have a hospital evacuation plan. Only 45% of hospitals with a proper plan have mobile teams and 95% of them do triage. 49% of all institutions have a‘link with the regional disaster plan. Majority (53%) of all hospitals, regardless of having a plan or not, give information to the public by news briefings Current status of preparedness for a rush of mass casualties is inadequate in secondary and tertiary health care institutions in Sri Lanka.