Disaster and emergency response training

My application is rejected

I was travelling in South East Asia when the tsunami struck. As soon as I heard about it and the devastation it caused, I immediately submitted an application to volunteer for the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières' emergency relief projects in the affected regions. My enthusiasm was quickly met by disappointment when my application was rejected. According to the organisation, medical students are rarely accepted because we are more of a liability than an asset. Our insufficient medical training, in addition to our need for supervision, diverts the organisation's resources away from the people we are trying to help.

In fact, the literature shows that even experienced medical staff can become a burden, rather than a help at the scene of a disaster. Without sufficient training in emergency response and disaster relief, healthcare workers can become victims themselves, without changing the morbidity and mortality of the population they are trying to help.12

Who is qualified to help?

Ever since the attacks on September 11, there has been an explosion of papers that draw our attention to the scarce number of physicians who …