Myanmar is a developing third world country, which is struggling to establish an efficient Emergency Medical System (EMS).

Myanmar has since developed a plan that aims to resolute the deficiency of EMS in the country. It is Myanmar’s preparation to respond to acute illnesses and injuries, as well as on natural disasters. The plan includes three phases that aim to establish the capacity of emergency doctors and other personnel to provide emergency medicine.

Myanmar and its EMS program: the main objectives

The main objectives of the arrangement is to:

• train a group of senior physicians in providing leadership towards the establishment of acute care requirements, specifically proposed for the South East Asian (SEA) Games on year 2013 (Phase 1);
• to continue providing emergency medicine, even after the SEA Games event, in all aspects of emergency medicine as well as to build a specialist training program that is vital in growing the EMS structure in the country (Phase 2 and 3).

The program will last for 3 academic years and the training course design includes:

• the recruitment of trainees;
• the introduction of Myanmar Emergency Medicine Introductory Course (MEMIC) to the participants;
• the building of a specialty training in emergency medicine through the 18 month course of Outcome Leaders with an Master of Medical Science (MMedSc) and a Diploma in Emergency Medicine.

Emergency Medicine Program in Myanmar: about the foundation

The foundation of Master of Medical Science in Emergency Medicine program is intended to be designed on the aims of MMedSc program. It is hoped to produce health care specialists with MMedSc Emergency Medicine training. Through this strategy, the professionals will be trained and develop capabilities and skill services that is essential to improve the delivery of acute care.

On the other hand, nurses, general practitioners, ambulance officers and even undergraduates are planned to include in the customized training program. This is to establish and produce ambulance officers for the training of emergency nursing and ambulance services, skills upgrading of general practitioners, as well as emergency medicine for undergraduate courses.

Myanmar’s EMS Master Program: three phases

The program’s Phase 1 includes the establishment of a group of senior doctors in able to build an emergency medicine that specializes in all aspects of EM.

The Emergency Medicine Development Committee will be recruiting trainees from EM professionals with Master of Medical Science degree has commenced on June of 2012.

Since Phase 1 targets to establish a variety of Emergency Medicine specialty, the specialists’ disciplines will include surgery, internal medicine, orthopaedics and anaesthesia. The recruitment has been based on the aptitude and enthusiasm for acute care as well as the desire to pursue a career in building capacity for acute care in Myanmar. Through the MEMIC program, the specialists have been provided of a comprehensive introduction on Emergency Medicine, as well as it has directed trainees on their development training for 18 months.

As mentioned earlier, this phase is intended to provide a lead for the SEA Games that commenced in December 2013. The specialists were rotated on different clinical exposures such as on orthopaedics, intensive and coronary care, paediatrics, surgery and internal medicine.

The locations of trainings were on Yangon, Mandalay, North Okkalapa and Nay Pyi Taw General Hopitals. Further, they have also travelled to experience the established emergency medicine training programs in Hong Kong and Australia where they were able to participate on different emergency medicine short courses. Some of the short courses offered were on Primary Trauma Care (PTC), Early Management of Severe Trauma (EMST), Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS), Care of the Critically Ill Surgical Patient (CCrISP), Emergency Life Support (ELS), Advanced Pediatric Life Support (APLS), Major Incident Medical Management and Support (MIMMS) and Toxicology. The participants have undergone vigorous assessments in order to receive a Diploma in Emergency Medicine (DipEM) and were referred to as Emergency Physicians.

After the Phase 1 program comes the Phase 2 and 3. These phases aimed to build specialty training in emergency medicine with an approach similar to the other trainings. All trainees have been rotated on the Emergency Departments of the general hospitals of Yangon, Mandalay, North Okkalapa and Nay Pyi Taw under the supervision of Emergency Directors with DipEM and MMedSc.

The Emergency Directors were from other countries, such as Hong Kong and Australia, and were enlightened of their established Emergency Medicine structures. The participants were trained on courses like Primary Trauma Care (PTC), Early Management of Severe Trauma (EMST), Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS), Care of the Critically Ill Surgical Patient (CCrISP), Emergency Life Support (ELS) and Advanced Pediatric Life Support (APLS). The successful trainees have been assessed in order to receive a Master of Medical Science in Emergency Medicine.