DOH bares plans to train more `emergency personnel’

Department of Health. File photo.

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday laid out plans to train more personnel to be part of the Philippine Emergency Medical Assistance Team (PEMAT).

PEMAT was deployed to Myanmar to conduct humanitarian assistance for those affected by the 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck on March 28. The team returned to Manila last Sunday.

READ: Palace praises returning PIAHC from Myanmar mission

“We’re going to do continuous training and improvement. In fact, this is my instruction to Dr. Ivy [Lozada] that we start training and accepting new members,” Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said at a Palace briefing.

“Each hospital has about a hundred trained personnel. They’re varied—there are doctors, nurses, logistics staff, engineers, and other specialties because it’s a composite team. And then, we continue to train young people for it. The beauty is, we’ve already started,” he continued in Filipino and English.

Herbosa also said PEMAT was certified by the World Health Organization in September 2024 after seven years of training.

Their deployment to Myanmar was also their first international mission since receiving their certification.

“Our plan is also to develop a team at the national level so we can deploy quickly when—well, you know, after summer, it’s the start of the rainy season again with storms and floods. We will be using these Philippine Emergency Medical [Assistance] Teams,” he also said.