TEN teams from Southeast Asian countries competed during the International Paramedic Competition, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Asia 2018 held Saturday, June 16, at Davao Crocodile Park, Davao City.
The event aimed to promote and advocate pre-hospital care and EMS system in different Asian communities.
Dr. Faith Joan Gaerlan, vice chair of Emergency Medicine, earlier said in a press forum that the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) will host this year's competition which highlighted the best practices and the skills of EMS physicians and providers in managing cases in a pre-hospital setting.
The event also aimed to test the ability of each participating team in handling and responding to emergency outside the hospital. This is also an avenue to network with other counterparts in different countries in Asia and collaborate for the advancement of EMS systems.
"Department of Emergency medicine has just been established at SPMC three years ago. It has just been accredited also by the Philippine Board of Emergency Medicine. Our task really is to be able to integrate prehospital care with the emergency department," Gaerlan said.
The activity was organized by the Asian Association for Emergency Medical Services.
Teams that competed were two teams from Malaysia, two from Taiwan, two from Thailand, two from Davao Central 911, and one team each from the Singapore Civil Defense Force and Makati City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office.
It was just a preliminary competition while the finals will be held on June 19.
Meanwhile, a pre-convention is also set at Grand Men Seng Hotel where experts in the field will be coming over to share their expertise in EMS.
Topics to be discussed are pre-hospital ultrasound, on medical director's workshop, how to do CPR out of hospital cardiac telephone assisted, and pre-hospital trauma support at SPMC, among others.
The main convention will be held on June 18 and 19 at SMX Convention Center, SM Lanang Premier where topics to be discussed are CPR, EMT Eductaion, standardization of EMS training, disaster preparedness and infectious disease management and pre-hospital emergency care for cardiac neurologic care. JCR
