- Participants have practiced the placement, decontamination and removal of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that they would use in a real risk situation
The Government Delegation in the Community of Madrid has participated today, together with the Civil Guard, in a simulation of response to the EVE (Ebola Virus Disease) at the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport.
The exercise has consisted of the placement, decontamination and removal of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) of health personnel (doctors and nurses) from the External Health Unit and the Central Operational Unit SEDEX-NRBQ of the Civil Guard.
The Government Delegation in Madrid has participated: the General Secretariat; the Functional Area of Health and Social Policy; and the Occupational Risk Prevention Service. The Civil Guard has intervened: the Central Operational Unit NRBQ (UCO NRBQ); the First Response Unit (UPR) of the Fiscal Headquarters and Borders of the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, and members of the Airport Surveillance Team (EVA), all of them dependent on the Madrid Command.
Suspicious flight
During the exercise, the Foreign Health Service and the UCO NRBQ have been warned by the Airport Management Center of a flight from Uganda, in which the captain of the aircraft has warned of the presence of a family of four members with symptoms compatible with EVD (Ebola Virus Disease).
The flight is diverted to Terminal 4 of the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, where the UCO NRBQ and External Health Units, already equipped with EPIs, are waiting at the foot of the runway.
Means and procedures
During the simulation, the necessary material and human resources have been used. The UCO NRBQ has made it easier for the External Health Service to use a decontamination station, consisting of several phases of pediluvium, softening, rinsing and undressing.
The procedures established to deal with this type of situation by officials responsible for detecting biological risks and responding to a health emergency at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport have also been implemented.
The objective of the joint simulation, which is carried out on an annual basis, is the mutual knowledge both of the human and material resources of each unit and of its operation and execution in order to be able to give a coordinated and effective response in a real case of health emergency by EVE.