Teaching PHEC in Goa, India

Even before the Bourne Supremacy used Goa as a backdrop it was becoming a popular place for the tourist who wants to get away. Although one of the richer parts of India, Goa’s emergency medicine and trauma management is exceedingly basic until the patient gets beyond the hospital emergency department. In a country of contrasts the Goa Medical Centre boasts an MRI scanner, excellent nursing and external fixation of fractures, but lacks any equipment on the ambulances and even a defibrillator in the accident department. 

The Rotary Club of Goa has formed a partnership with the Rotary Club of Birmingham and started a “Saving Lives” project to change this, and in October sponsored a training group that supplied a variety of courses. Professor Colonel Tim Hodgetts taught disaster and major incident management, Keith Porter and a team of nurses from Birmingham taught the Police first-aid and the hospital staff the ALERT programme and a four man BASICS Education team ran a Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Certificate of Pre-hospital Care course. 

Teaching the course provided several challenges to the instructors. Much of the infrastructure assumed as present in a standard PHEC course just isn’t present, disease profiles are different and management options are more limited. Because of the the lecture material was completely restructured with emphasis being applied to areas where interventions would have the greatest effect. The College examination however was to exactly the same standard and 13 out of 19 candidates passed. On the final night the Chief Secretary of the province awarded certificates to the successful candidates, as well as giving the Instructors plaques commemorating the visit. He also received several Rapid Response Police motorbikes from the Rotary Club to get trained first-aid to an accident quickly.