Introduction of Emergency Medical Team Coordination Cell Assistance Activities in 2022 Moldova EMTCC Operation and Future Suggestions

Abstract

Introduction:Emergency Medical Team Coordination Cell (EMTCC) was established in WHO Moldova Country Office to coordinate responding International EMTs in March 2022. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) sent an EMTCC assistance team to support the WHO-approved minimum data collection for emergency medical teams, Minimum Data Set (MDS), operations and other coordination activities. Introducing activities of the JICA EMTCC assistance team at the Moldova EMTCC will suggest future use.Method:EMTCC assistance team activities were reviewed.Results:There was a wide range of high-level administrative functions in EMTCC, such as planning, logistics, assurance and governance, and human resources. One of the significant functions was introducing MDS to the medical team and extracting the data summaries for reporting to the Moldova Ministry of Health. All these tasks require considerable time to manage and must be completed promptly for effective EMTCC operations.Conclusion:The EMTCC coordinator should function as a decision-maker to control the coordination of EMTs communicating with WHO and implementing the EMT initiative. In a disaster, especially in the acute phase of EMTCC activities, more high-level administrative functions will be required with immediate processing. Therefore, it is considered that the EMTCC assistance team should work with the coordinator as early as possible. In addition, all these EMTCC assistance team activities should be standardized and specified in the EMTCC handbook for future operation reference.