Health Ministry to set up National Institute of Pre-Hospital Treatment

KUALA LUMPUR: A National Institute of Pre-Hospital Treatment and Disaster Medicine will be set up by the Health Ministry to ensure the delivery of the best services to the people, especially during calamities or disasters.

Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa (pic) said apart from that, the hotspot collaboration established in 2014 between the ministry, St. John Ambulance Malaysia (SJAM) and the Malaysian Red Crescent (BSMM) will also be streamlined for the purpose.

"The sharing of expertise between the frontlines of the ministry and the Emergency Medical Rescue Services of the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM), such as fire safety training and disaster management, should also be continued to ensure that their duties can be carried out efficiently and safely," she said in a post on Facebook tonight.

Earlier, Dr Zaliha witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on strategic cooperation between the ministry and the Fire and Rescue Department to strengthen pre-hospital and ambulance treatment (PRPA) in the country.

She said the collaboration between the ministry and the department in improving the capacity of pre-hospital services has been established with the launch of the Emergency Air Ambulance Rescue Service (EMARS).

The collaboration between the ministry and the department was done through the sharing of emergency rescue vehicle resources, the placement of ministry members with the rescue vehicles; "online medical direction" service from the Medical Emergency Coordination Centre (MECC) to the vehicles and on-the-job training placement for the teams at the Emergency and Trauma Department of the KKM Hospital. - Bernama