SEARCCT in collaboration with the Emergency Department of Hospital Selayang and Hospital Sultanah Aminah Johor Bahru, successfully organised the “Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives (CBRNE) Terrorism Awareness and Medical Emergency Consequence Management Workshop” at Hospital Sultanah Aminah, Johor Bahru (HSAJB) from 15 to 18 August 2017.
This is the fourth edition of the workshop that is co-hosted by SEARCCT and Hospital Selayang after the success of the earlier editions at Hospital Selayang, Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah, Kedah and Hospital Negeri, Melaka. This workshop was attended by 70 participants consisting of medical practitioners’ of hospitals and clinics from the Southern region.
With the aim of creating an awareness among medical practitioners on the use of CBRNE elements as weapons and to prepare them in responding to such casualties, this workshop was steered by SEARCCT’s established local trainers from the Royal Malaysia Police, Ministry of Health, Malaysia Armed Force, Chemistry Department, Fire and Rescue Department and Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB).
A variety of topics on the subject of CBRNE was discussed ranging from the basics of CBRNE, mode of dispersal and managing post attack situations to emergency decontamination. This gave participants an insight on the significance of understanding the roles of other agencies, in the event of CBRNE incidents. Where hands-on sessions were appropriate, the participants were given the opportunity to familiarise themselves with detection equipment for CBRNE agents that added value to the theory that they have learned through the lectures.
Through the demonstration exercises, participants were also briefed on coordination, security procedures, command control and communication in handling mass casualties in the event of CBRNE incidents, thus emphasizing the need for an all-inclusive approach when it comes to response mechanisms.
Essentially, SEARCCT received encouraging feedback from the participants with hopes that this programme would be conducted more than once a year in SEARCCT’s Training Calendar.
The workshop proved to be a beneficial platform for participants to obtain not only the theoretical knowledge on CBRNE but most importantly to apply the knowledge through practice. Consequently, SEACCCT will ensure value-added elements be introduced in the format and module of upcoming CBRNE workshop in the future.