Davao City’s 911-response proposed to LGUs

DAVAO CITY – Officials from Davao City expressed willingness to assist local government units in the coordination between emergency medicine departments of hospitals and the onscene emergency response teams.

This follows President Duterte’s signing of Proclamation No. 56, which mandates the standardization of an emergency response number from several numbers into a single 911 hotline last May 25.

Duterte's proclamation is supported by a plan to integrate the country's emergency response systems into one easily identifiable number.

The 911 concept is a national implementation of Davao City's own 20-yearold model.

Dr. Benedict Edward P. Valdez, medical director for the city's Central 911, said during the Connect Science + Health and Wellness forum Friday that he was willing to recommend Davao City's own model as the template to health emergency response protocols to other local governments.

"If you ask me which model I would use, I would use Davao City's," Valdez said.

The doctor, who also chairs the emergency medicine for the Southern Philippines Medical Center, said that one of his advocacies is the implementation of a well-coordinated hospital transfer system, which includes instructions from the hospital to the responders, as well as the improved response of teams picking up patients from their locations.

However, Valdez said that there is a need to educate the public on the other aspects of the emergency response chain.

While there is a prevailing belief that patients would demand that all government agencies provide immediate aid to patients, especially in emergency cases, Valdez said that communities must be empowered to make field decisions at least before emergency response teams arrive on the scene.

He cited some important knowhow like the Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) as well as the location of pick-up points by ambulances.

The Central 911 system, he said, can only do so much, as this was designed to be the coordinator of emergency response.

Emergency response teams from different parts of the world are scheduled to gather this month for different emergency medical services activities.