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Health disaster management key to handling an emergency

Australia's capacity to respond adequately to a bioterrorism attack or national health emergency has been continually upgraded as far back as the Sydney Olympics, the Federal Minister for Health, Senator Kay Patterson, has said.

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8 May 2003

Health disaster management key to handling an emergency

Australia's capacity to respond adequately to a bioterrorism attack or national health emergency has been continually upgraded as far back as the Sydney Olympics, the Federal Minister for Health, Senator Kay Patterson, said today.

Speaking at the opening of the 13th World Congress on Disaster and Emergency Medicine in Melbourne, Senator Patterson said following the shocking events of September 11, the white powder incidents, the Bali bombings and the advent of the SARS pandemic, Australia has been motivated to develop a more dynamic national response to terrorism and health emergencies.

"Australia now has a national medicines stockpile designed to ensure rapid pharmaceutical responses to any bioterrorism attack, including antidotes for anthrax and other agents and smallpox vaccine," she said.

"Robust disaster management plans are now in place around Australia to cover a wide range of contingencies and these are being regularly tested and improved," she said.

"These plans are complemented by world class border controls designed to protect Australia against terrorism and the spread of infectious diseases."

Senator Patterson said the outbreak of SARS had forged better coordination across Australia's state borders which had been pivotal to a successful response to SARS.

"The Federal government has been joined again by all State and Territory governments in widening and upgrading Australia's former Australian Disaster Medicine Group into the Australian Health Disaster Management Policy Committee," she said.

"The Committee has links to Defence, Emergency Management Australia, the Infectious Disease Emergency Response Group, Chief Health Officers, the Communicable Diseases Network Australia and the Public Health Laboratory Network. New Zealand is also represented."

Senator Patterson said policies being developed by the Committee include

  • surveillance capacity
  • burn and trauma management capacity to deal with mass casualties;
  • isolation capacity in Australian hospitals, including negative pressure and how emergency units will cope with a surge of patients in casualty departments following a health emergency;
  • mental health arrangements and other special response needs.

Media inquiries, contact Sarah Higginbottom, Media Adviser, Senator Patterson's office, 02 6277 7220.

Further information, Kay McNiece, Dept. Health & Ageing Media Unit 0412 132 585