The committee, formed on a proposal of the GCC Ministerial Council, will further discuss strategic goals for emergency and disaster management over the next five years as well as issues related to infrastructure and resources.
“The main objective of this two-day meeting is to have co-ordinated discussions between the GCC countries regarding issues related to emergency services,” Hamad Medical Corporation’s emergency department chairman Dr Abdulwahab al-Musleh said.
He said that the region already had put a plan in place to meet any emergency or pandemic such avian flu or swine flu.
According to Dr al-Musleh, the committee will propose recommendations to the GCC Ministerial Council on how to co-ordinate actions during an emergency.
In his speech read by Dr al-Musleh, the GCC Ministers of Health’s executive office director general Dr Tawfeeq bin Ahmed Khoja said: “It is on Qatar’s initiative that the idea of developing a programme for emergency medicine for the region materialised some two years ago.”
“Emergency medicine is a new discipline that has gained wide currency in the developed countries. It is imperative in our collective efforts to ensure health safety for all and to evolve systems for early warning on health hazards and be ready to spring into action when the situation requires,” he said.
He said the meeting will carry forward the recommendations made by the GCC Ministers of Health at a meeting held in Geneva on the need to evolve academic programmes of study on emergency medicine, first aid at the post graduate and fellowship levels.
“There is a need to build up our respective national cadres of qualified and trained doctors and paramedics who can handle natural disasters and help in alleviating the pain and sufferings of those affected,” Dr Khoja said.
He proposed setting up of a GCC council for first aid and emergency with branches in each country in order to work in a co-ordinated way.
Mubarak al-Hatmi, health relations department director at the Supreme Council of Health, said the establishment of the committee provided an opportunity to exchange views and experiences by the member-states.
