Dr. Shalimar Abdullah, an orthopaedic surgeon and an executive council member of MERCY Malaysia, was on hand during the training and this is her story…

Many times during past missions, we would find ourselves on the field not fully prepared for our mission. The feeling of frustration and regret would be most evident especially when seeing other NGOs outfitted with their sturdy tents, well-equipped clinics and ever-efficient generators. Meanwhile, we would be huddled in small tents swamped by water, with our medication scattered in boxes everywhere - powered only by hurricane lamps. And sometimes, we wouldn't even be aware of what items we did or did not have with us!

As a result, there were too many times when we were forced to depend on the goodwill of local organisations and government agencies to lend us a helping hand. This led to the idea of an ERU that was mooted about three years ago. However, a lot of time had to be spent on planning the project and this entailed a whole load of meetings and discussions. Buying the necessary equipment was not easy either especially since we were working with a very limited budget. Thus, things progressed slowly but surely.

Recently and to expedite the process, our president, Dr. Jemilah invited Mr. Anders Laukvik, a professional firefighter attached to the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team, to supervise our first ERU training session. Once his dates to visit us were set, it instilled in us a sense of urgency to get things organised and equipped by the stated deadline.

Comprising two days of theory and another two days of practical training, the modules covered included security, communications, Global Positioning System (GPS) and map reading, logistics plus medical and operating theatre equipment. The crowd was a mixed bunch of veterans and greenhorns but almost all had either been on mission or had attended MERCY’s Basic Mission Training in the past. The PVOP (PETRONAS Volunteer Opportunity Programme) members formed the bulk of logisticians and engineers. We also had four lovely ladies from PricewaterhouseCoopers amongst us – who really got a taste of what MERCY had and has to offer!

But it was the Practical Session which everyone enjoyed the most - unloading and setting up the tents and carrying, or rather dragging the heavy equipment which was in boxes as well as furnishing the tents. And thank goodness it didn't rain. Finally, once we had all 20 tents up, fully checked and labeled, all of us felt as if we were really part of a team.

Of course, as this was the first training session, some parts of it were too complicated whilst others were too simple. We even managed to complete the entire training programme a whole day earlier than scheduled!! This was partly due to the fact that some equipment still needed to be rectified and more purchased.

However, it was clear that in the future, we would definitely have a gigantic task at hand. First of all, it would be a huge job to transport 20 tents each weighing 150 kg coupled with 20 large boxes of equipment to a disaster area. Subsequently, we would have to supply power to all these 20 tents and their equipment while worrying about providing clean water for up to 50 patients and 10 MERCY Malaysia volunteers and staff members.

Despite these issues that have yet to be ironed out, we envisage that the ERU will work well when manned by approximately 10 members comprising doctors, paramedics, electricians, mechanics, logisticians, cooks, security personnel and engineers.

With the ERU operating, MERCY Malaysia should be able to deliver medical services when it is most needed. For example, when we were in Bagh, Pakistan, an adorable 8 year old girl was attended to only 10 days after she had been injured in the disastrous earthquake. By then, the wound on her left hand was so badly infected that we had no choice but to amputate her hand. Therefore, with the setting up of MERCY Malaysia’s ERU, we hope to prevent or at least decrease the chances of such sad, unfortunate and totally preventable incidents from occurring.