Thus their primary goal was to build a force of highly trained young doctors and medical students, proficient in basic and advanced life-saving skills as well as disaster management, that could respond in times of mass disaster. They are called the Mass Disaster Task Force.
On 12th Nov, 2010, a terrible bomb ripped through the C.I.D. office in Karachi. Amidst the chaos, two medical students, with a passion for trauma and trained in first response reached the site as First Responders. Being the only medical personnel on site, they made an effort to appropriately manage the remaining victims. However, the gross mismanagement and manhandling of bomb blast victims they witnessed at the bomb site perturbed them.
Their secondary goal, and more likely the larger one, is to inspire and utilize medical students, who are trained free of cost, and in-turn train others free of cost, to impart the knowledge of first response to the general population.
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AI generated scene.
They put their heads together with three other colleagues, all trained in first response, to come up with a solution. They needed to overcome the many challenges faced in a scene of trauma. The lack of trained personnel, the constant tussle between rival ambulance agencies for dead bodies, the lack of proper on-site trauma support, the mishandling by the initial interveners.
Their plan was simple. They realised, that if they could be trained as first responders, and were proficient in first response, then many other medical students, who already had a baseline of medical knowledge could be trained easily as well. And eventually these medical students and young doctors could then respond as well as go out and teach the general population basic life-saving skills.
How we got here.
Today, after more than a decade, FRIP has taught thousands of people how to save lives, and spread the knowledge of first response so that we may reduce the morbidity and mortality of trauma in Pakistan.
