Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: 11 June 2016: Family Medical Practice (FMP) this week hosted a Mass Casualty Preparedness event, led by two globally recognized experts in disaster and emergency medicine.  The seminars saw 25 doctors, nurses and other FMP health-care professionals led through a four day intensive workshop that wrapped up this afternoon.

“We live in precarious times in an unpredictable world,” said Dr. Rafi Kot, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Family Medical Practice.  “We simply do not know what is around the next corner, but what we do know is that we need to be prepared for any and all eventualities.  Vietnam is a wonderful country, it has been my home for over two decades, but like anywhere, it is susceptible to an array of crises and disasters that range from transportation accidents to typhoons.  We need to have our team nationwide mobilized and ready to respond to any possibility that could lead to mass casualties.”

With this in mind, FMP tapped Professors Kobi Peleg and Moshe Michaelson, who between them have over five decades of medical experience in their homeland of Israel and around the world. Dr. Kobi Peleg is the Director of the Israeli National Center for Trauma and Emergency Medicine Research in the Gertner Institute and a United Nation Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) expert, while Dr. Michaelson bases himself out of Rambam Medical Center in Haifa.  Both have been called into major calamities including wars, earthquakes, and various field hospitals the world over.

Calling upon international best practice, the two doctors along with Dr. Rafi and his Emergency Team, worked through a four day session that included disaster preparedness and vulnerability analysis for Vietnam, pre-hospital management, and the development of a disaster preparedness system for this country.

“We see in Vietnam the very infancy of disaster preparedness,” said Professor Peleg.  “At this stage it has been extremely limited and with a vast difference between cities and rural areas.  There have been various issues locally including bus crashes and capsized boats, and the nation has very little preparedness for such issues.  In the past its major incidents have focused around epidemics, however these are different in that they are more controllable than other mass casualty issues.”

Professor Michaelson concurred and congratulated Family Medical Practice on taking the initiative to train its medical team to be prepared for such eventualities, adding: “Preparedness is key to managing mass casualty issues.  While a lot of hospitals in Vietnam and around the world have excellent doctors and nurses, the key to managing mass casualties is being organized in advance in order to balance needs and available resources in order to minimize morbidity and maximize the care given to any and all victims.”

Family Medical has long been a pioneer in Vietnam’s health-care industry.  Its clinics around the country feature more foreign doctors than any other, and have built a two-decade-long legacy for superior care for patients nationwide.  It operates an international standard emergency room at its District 1 clinic, as well as the country’s best-equipped ambulances, and will soon augment its emergency offering with the launch of its *9999 service, Vietnam’s first rapid response hotline of trained responders.

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Family Medical Practice, the first foreign-operated, multi-disciplinary medical provider in Vietnam, opened in Hanoi in 1994 and owns and operates five modern clinics based in Hanoi, Danang and HCMC. FMP is the only private medical provider in Vietnam with such national coverage. All Family Medical Practice clinics have fully equipped ambulances described as “state-of-the-art emergency medical units” on stand-by 24 hours a day.