15 December 2018 – IMU Cares Clinical Campus conducted an Emergency Response Medicine Workshop at the John Bosco Lecture Theatre, IMU Seremban Clinical Campus. The event was held in collaboration with the Emergency Retrieval Unit (ERU) of Sabah Women & Children’s Hospital (SWACH), Kota Kinabalu. The Organising Committee was chaired by A/Prof Datuk Dr Soo Thian Lian, Coordinator of IMU Cares Clinical Campus, assisted by an able committee comprising of IMU lecturers (Dr Rosdara Masayuni Mohd Sani and A /Prof Dr Mohammad Arshad Ikram), staff and students. 
The workshop was attended by 116 participants consisting of IMU clinical students, alumni and medical staff of Hospital Tuanku Ja’afar, Seremban. Key speaker for the workshop was Dr Cheah Phee Kheng, the Consultant Emergency Physician in charge of ERU, SWACH who has tremendous experience in the field of patient retrieval from emergency situations both in medical and civilian crises. He was assisted by his senior medical officer, Dr Muhamad Yaakub Arifin and senior medical assistant, En Aizam Salmani from his unit. Dr Cheah’s engaging presentation on his personal experience in extricating victims and survivors from the top of Mount Kinabalu during the historic 2015 earthquake, and running a field hospital during the 2013 armed insurgency in Lahad Datu, Sabah widened the participants’ views on the role of emergency and rescue squads in crises situations and the importance of out-of-hospital management. Meanwhile, his 2 colleagues brilliantly shared and demonstrated their GO BAG preparation – a portable kit that contains essential items required for survival for 72 hours in disaster situations. Prior to this, few members of the audience had prior knowledge of the necessity of having such a bag available anytime and anywhere.
The BOMBA Fire and Rescue Department of Negeri Sembilan was also invited to give a talk and demonstration on Hazmat (hazardous material) handling and containment. Especially interesting was the opportunity for students to dress up in the Hazmat ‘space-suits’.
There were also talks on the clinical management of emergency patients in disaster, given by IMU lecturers, Dr Rosdara Masayuni (Emergency Medicine Department), A/Prof Mohammad Arshad Ikram (Orthopedic Department) and Dr Abdul Rasyid Sulaiman (Psychiatry Department). The topics covered were Mass Casualty Triaging, Crush Syndrome and Psychological First Aid. The feedback from the participants was overwhelmingly positive. The combination of theoretical knowledge and practical hands-on sessions made it an enriching and exciting experience. It had the spin-off benefit of inspiring the students to consider Emergency Medicine as a possible future career option.
Written by Muhammad Mujibuddin bin Hassan (IMU Medical Student, ME 116)
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