Medical forum looks at disaster response

The fifth Sino-Luso Medical Forum, held from Thursday to Saturday at Grand Lapa hotel, will focus on ‘Advanced Disaster Medical Response’.
Eight keynote speakers from the United States and Hong Kong will share their experiences in handling the fall of the World Trade Centre twin towers in New York, Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti earthquake and other major natural disasters.
Speakers include the director of the International Trauma and Disaster Institute at Harvard Medical School, Susan Briggs, who will share her experience with mass casualty management and lethal biological agents.
The supervising medical officer of the US government’s Speciality Disaster Medical Assistance teams, Roy Alson, will give some insights on chemical agents in major disasters. He is also an expert in incident command systems and crush injuries, both of which are crucial for saving lives after earthquakes.
The delegation also includes Christine Curci, an expert in mental health and conflict mitigation in the US. Curci will teach local frontline medical providers how to provide psychological response to disasters.
Experts from Hong Kong include the president of the Hong Kong Association for Conflict and Catastrophe Medicine, Jimmy Chan, who is bringing over some Hong Kong faculty members.
The chairperson of the Macau Society of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Lei Wai Seng, will give an overview of the MSAR current state of emergency response. The medical director of the public hospital Conde S. Januário will talk about what the territory learned from the Fukushima meltdown and the Sichuan earthquake rescue missions.
The forum is organised by the Macau Health Management and Promotion Association and the Macau Society of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine. The faculty of health of the Macau University of Science and Technology is presiding to the event.