NZ Surgical Services Inadequate In An Emergency

For immediate release April 16, 2007

Current NZ Surgical Services Inadequate In An Emergency Says Royal Australasian College Of Surgeons

The New Zealand branch of the Royal Australasian College of
Surgeons (RACS) supports the view of Australian trauma experts that New
Zealand hospitals are not adequately resourced to cope with a
large-scale natural disaster, major accident or terrorist attack.

Commenting on an Australasian Trauma Society study assessing facilities
in New Zealand and Australian hospitals against international benchmarks
for major crises RACS spokesman, Waikato Trauma Surgeon Grant Christey
said a great deal of work is needed to get our hospitals ready for
mass-casualty events.

"The Australasian study published today clearly shows that our
hospitals will struggle to cope with a mass-casualty event. New Zealand
is at the bottom of the pile when it comes to the key benchmarks for
hospital mass-casualty capability, and despite the tendency of Kiwis to
go to great lengths to help out when a disaster occurs we need to
continue to plan for the unthinkable. We may have a lower perceived terrorist threat than Australia but we have transport and industrial threats and live on a geologic plate boundary with major seismic and
volcanic activity.

RACS supports the view that the everyone involved in disaster
management takes heed of the available evidence and ensures the current
initiatives for serious mass-casualty planning keep marching ahead,"
Mr Christey said.

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