To ensure that Latvia is better prepared for disasters and other emergencies involving large numbers of casualties, the country is continuing to implement the internationally recognised Major Incident Medical Management and Support (MIMMS) system.
MIMMS provides a standardised set of principles for organising medical assistance in situations involving large numbers of casualties, when a rapid and coordinated response from multiple emergency services is essential.
The system is widely recognised internationally for managing mass-casualty incidents. It is already used in several European countries, including Estonia, and is also recognised by NATO for civil-military cooperation.
Latvia has so far been spared major disasters and large-scale incidents. However, terrorist attacks across Europe, devastating natural disasters and the war in Ukraine over the past decade have significantly changed the security landscape.
Every country must be prepared for situations in which large numbers of people may require medical assistance within a short period of time.
“In such incidents, it is essential to follow unified, internationally recognised and standardised principles that are understood by every responder involved, regardless of the country they represent. This system enables medical assistance to be organised more effectively, the work of medical teams to be coordinated with other emergency services, priorities for treating casualties to be established, and their evacuation from the scene to hospitals to be planned jointly. For the public, this means greater safety in both complex everyday emergencies and situations that threaten national security. It also strengthens Latvia’s ability to cooperate with emergency services from other countries during international incidents. The clearer, more precise and more coordinated the response in a crisis, the faster and more effectively casualties can receive assistance,” says Liene Cipule, Director of the State Emergency Medical Service (NMPD).
This week, Latvia is hosting its first nationally organised MIMMS training exercises for emergency medical service personnel.
The training is being led by certified instructors from Latvia and Justin Burke-Jones, an experienced mass-casualty medical management expert from the United Kingdom.
The programme provides in-depth knowledge and includes practical scenario-based simulations.
Photos: NMPD, https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1555555006603453&set=pcb.1555555106603443
