Doctors 'learn conflict medicine'

Doctors were faced with difficult situations after the Asian tsunami

Doctors and nurses heading to war zones and disaster areas are to be helped to face up to the demands which will be placed on them.

A Faculty of Conflict and Catastrophe Medicine has been set up by military and medical experts.

Chaotic scenes, poor facilities and potential dangerous climate and terrain can all be problems for healthcare staff more used to working in the NHS.

The faculty has been launched by the Society of Apothecaries.

To work in potentially dangerous conditions involving extremes of climate and terrain requires specialist knowledge Jim Ryan, University College London

The experts behind the course say the Iraq conflict and the Asian tsunami have reinforced the need for such training.

They hope to build on the society's existing Diploma in the Medical Care of Catastrophes, introduced in 1994, which trains doctors how to use their skills in the aftermath of a disaster.

Medics who have trained on the course have gone on to work in Sierra Leone, Iraq, East Timor and Bosnia.

The experts said that, once the faculty was fully established, it was hoped it would be able to offer travelling fellowships, training days, and further qualifications.

'Challenges'

President of the faculty, Brigadier Alan Hawley, who has worked in Afghanistan and post-genocide Rwanda, said: "I experienced first-hand the challenge of delivering medical care to people whose lives are stricken by conflict.

"In an increasingly unstable world, more and more health professionals will be faced with such challenges."

He added: "My colleagues and I who are setting up the faculty have all worked as consultants in the NHS, and our training has been fantastic. But we have all been involved in conflict and catastrophe situations.

"What became clear was that the experience and training that you had is put through the lens of experience in very austere circumstances.

"You go to these areas and your basic assumptions are challenged."

Peter Roberts, emeritus professor of military medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons said: "When I was in Bosnia, one of the things I found myself doing was providing moral support to fellow medics who suddenly found themselves providing third world medicine.

"They were providing the most possible care to the most possible people, as they had to.

"And during the recent Gulf War, when Azabiya hospital was liberated, it was absolute chaos. The doctors had left, and only nurses remained.

"The hospital was bursting at the seams. There was probably in excess of 250 people clamouring to be seen."

"There was only one doctor who was able to go there. But, because he was trained, he was able to cope."

Jim Ryan, Leonard Cheshire Professor of Conflict Recovery at University College London (UCL) who recently visited Sri Lanka to assess the needs of hospitals treating victims of the tsunami, said: "To work in potentially dangerous conditions involving extremes of climate and terrain requires specialist knowledge.

"I welcome the launch of this Faculty as it demonstrates a long term commitment to providing this expertise."