Abigail Klein Leichman
January 14, 2019

Five experts from United Hatzalah of Israel are running a 12-day training session teaching first-responders in various areas of India and Sri Lanka how to respond to mass casualty incidents and manage disasters.

The mission, funded by the AJC, is preparing local participants from the Indian Red Cross, 108 emergency system, fire and rescue and emergency medical service (EMS) crews. The trainings include frontal lectures and a combined training drill for all participants, guiding them through the procedures used in Israel.

“We were asked to come by local officials after they toured our Dispatch and Command Center in Jerusalem last year,” said Vice President of Operations for United Hatzalah Dov Maisel, leader of the mission that began December 23 in Gurugram and moved on to New Delhi, Mumbai, Agra in Uttar Pradesh, Ahmedabad in Gujarat, and Colombo in Sri Lanka.

“We are adding to their already existing knowledge base numerous styles of emergency triage and disaster management from a number of different angles as our team is comprised of EMS experts and well as some of Israel’s elite search-and-rescue professionals who have been at disasters all over the globe.”

“International partnerships such as these are always opportunities to both teach and learn new ways of doing things more efficiently and helping patients in both countries faster and in a more effective manner,” said Maisel.

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