Sri Lanka has learned, with contributions from a 30-year war and a tsunami, that disasters happen when and where least expected. Thus the Health Emergency and Disaster Management Training Centre (HEDMaTC) of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya was established to prepare Sri Lankan healthcare workers for all forms of health disasters.

HEDMaTC conducts training programmes for health professionals, including medical doctors, nurses, emergency technical officers, ambulance drivers and porters. As these are adult training programmes practical methods of training such as drills, workstations, group work and hands on training have been used, in addition to lectures. Emergency care equipment, specific kits and techniques and desktop exercises are used to demonstrate protocols of emergency management and discuss principles of risk management, disaster management concepts, conceptual and technical challenges in measuring disasters and their impact on public health and its effective management. Participants prepare action plans for their individual institution based on the knowledge gained and are discussed in follow up programmes a month later.

HEDMaTC is the only institution in Sri Lanka that is accredited by the Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka to train their staff in disaster management. HEDMaTC has trained 200 personnel in Public Health Emergency and Disaster Management, 117 in Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in Crises and 1034 in pre-hospital emergency care. The trained personnel were mobilized to the North and East of the country to handle healthcare issues, ranging from administration to ground work, of almost 300,000 displaced civilians in 2009 with a very satisfactory outcome.

The training methods used in these programmes are especially beneficial in adult training and it is to be recommended. We also recommend that HEDMaTC to be developed as a regional training center for South Asia.