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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-11-12 Daily Xml
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SUPER TYPHOON HAIYAN

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (14:59): My question is to the Minister for Health. Can the minister inform the house about South Australia's contribution to the National Medical Assistance Team deployed to the Philippines following Super Typhoon Haiyan?

The SPEAKER: I call the Minister for Health and warn him that he is on one warning.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health and Ageing, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for Defence Industries, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (14:59): Thank you, sir, but I do rise on a very serious issue. On 8 November Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines causing significant numbers of casualties and widespread damage in parts of Leyte and Samar Island. We have been shocked and saddened by the loss of life and the scale of destruction caused by Typhoon Haiyan.

In response to the urgent need for medical support in the affected areas, SA Health is contributing four employees to join the Australian Medical Assistance Team. The deployment will be coordinated by the commonwealth-funded National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre based in Darwin, and the team will take medical equipment and supplies with the capacity to treat up to 4,000 patients over a two-week period in a temporary 60-bed hospital.

At this stage the national team will have a primary focus on emergency and acute trauma surgical care. The four SA Health employees include two paramedics from the Ambulance Service, a general practitioner with extensive overseas experience and an emergency medicine consultant. The current deployment is expected to be for a 14-day period, but as the situation is unlikely to be resolved quickly, it can be anticipated that further deployments may follow.

SA Health has a database of trained and immunised volunteers ready to deploy at any time. SA Health had, in fact, conducted training in the week prior to this deployment as part of its usual preparedness response. South Australia has a strong history of deploying staff to major disasters in the Asia Pacific over the last 10 years. I commend the outstanding efforts of our volunteers and the extraordinary contribution they make to support people in our region in this terrible disaster. On behalf of the government and the house, I wish those volunteers a safe return and a good deployment.

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