TEHRAN –The World Health Organization (WHO) has donated four trauma and emergency surgery kits (TESKs) to health centers in vulnerable provinces to enhance disaster and emergency preparedness in the face of health emergencies.

Supported by funding from European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), each kit contains medicines and equipment to perform 100 surgeries, enabling 400 emergency surgeries across Sistan-Baluchestan, Hormozgan, Kerman, and Khorasan Razavi provinces, the UN website announced in a press release on December 9.

According to the International Disaster Database, since 2023, out of 12 natural disasters in the Islamic Republic of Iran meeting the criteria for database registration, 7 were reported in provinces covered by the project, including 4 hydrological disasters (floods), 2 meteorological events (storms) and 1 geophysical occurrence (earthquake).

Limited access to emergency care in the target provinces – among the biggest in the country, they contain a large number of refugees who either live there or travel through the provinces to reach other areas – has led to high fatality and injury rates among affected populations. 

Together with efforts to improve capacity in prehospital care, previous donations of ambulances, automated external defibrillators (AEDs), and mass casualty management care training, the TESKs will enhance emergency preparedness and disaster response.

These kits will help ensure that people injured in emergencies can get the critical care they need when they need it,” said WHO Representative and Head of Mission to the Islamic Republic of Iran Syed Jaffar Hussain.

“By strengthening the capacity of local health care providers, we are helping to build resilience and save lives.”

Early reports by the health facilities that have received the lifesaving medical equipment indicate that the support provided has been instrumental in saving critical patients among refugees and host communities.

MT/MG