This website uses technical and assimilated cookies as well as user-profiling third party cookies in a grouped format to simplify online navigation and to protect the use of services. To find out more or to refuse consent to the use of one or any of the cookies, click here. Closing this banner, browsing this page or clicking on anything will be taken as consent to the use of cookies.

Close

Order of Malta Australia

News

Malteser International receives WHO certification for its Emergency Medical Team

27/11/2018 


. Malteser International is pleased to announce its emergency medical team (EMT) has been certified by the World Health Organization (WHO). Following a verification site visit by representatives from the WHO on Thursday, November 22 2018, Malteser International’s emergency medical team was successfully classified as EMT Type 1 Fixed.
As a WHO-certified EMT, Malteser International will now be part of the WHO’s global registry and can be requested to respond to emergencies around the world.

“This milestone is a fitting completion to the classification process we started two and half years ago,” said Oliver Hochedez, Head of the Emergency Relief department at Malteser International. “Our teams can now be rapidly deployed within 72 hours of a natural disaster, or in the event of a serious outbreak of disease or conflict. The EMT Type 1 classification means that we are equipped to set up a basic healthcare unit to treat around 100 patients a day.”

“It has been a long process, but the WHO has stood by our side from the very beginning, providing us with guidance and support,” Hochedez said.

The Malteser International EMT consists of a group of health professionals (doctors, nurses, midwives, and paramedics), logisticians and experts in Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene. The team is deployable for short-term relief missions, and is required to be logistically self-sufficient so as not to burden the national system of the country affected.

“With the EMT certification, we are making an important contribution to strengthening the United Nations emergency response system,” said Sid Peruvemba, Program Director of Malteser International.

The WHO Emergency Medical Teams (EMT) Initiative was introduced in 2016 to set minimum standards for medical teams from international organizations in sudden onset emergencies and to build capacity and strengthen health systems by coordinating the deployment of quality assured interventions.

The Australian Association

The Australian Association, formed in 1974, currently has in excess of 300 members and aspirant members across every State and Territory of Australia. We also have ongoing and strong links with the Order’s National Associations throughout the Asia Pacific Region including in Singapore and the Philippines and with members of the Order in New Zealand, Hong Kong SAR, Thailand and Korea. The Order of Malta is committed to serving Our Lords the Poor and Sick worldwide and has done so for over 900 years. This website shares with you the history, mission and current activities of the Order of Malta in Australia, and provides links to the work of the Order world-wide.