Taipei’s and New Taipei City’s disaster evacuation procedures should be more closely integrated, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday.
Both cities’ hospitals were flooded with patients following an inferno at the Formosa Fun Coast (八仙海岸) water park in New Taipei City’s Bali District (八里) on Saturday, which injured almost 500 people.
Although Taipei and New Taipei City are a single metropolitan area, we still have two separate administrative systems,” Ko said, adding that many seriously injured victims had been forced to transfer hospitals after they were not sent to the appropriate hospitals in the first instance.
Photo: Tu Chu-min, Taipei Times
Taipei sent 144 ambulances to assist New Taipei City’s disaster response.
Former National Taiwan University Hospital’s Department of Traumatology director Ko on Sunday called for injury reporting to be integrated and digitized across the nation to improve efficiency and coordination across administrative boundaries.
He also suggested that ambulances be provided with tablet computers to enable injuries to be reported in real time instead of waiting until patients arrive at hospitals.
Ko said Taipei would wait for one month before deciding on any specific emergency response reforms, adding that plans for treating injuries after a major natural disaster — such as an earthquake — would also be reviewed.
Following a meeting with New Taipei City Deputy Mayor Kao Chung-cheng (高宗正), Taipei Deputy Mayor Teng Chia-chi (鄧家基) said that the cities would explore ways of integrating their respective emergency operations centers to unify ambulance dispatches and the hospitals to which patients are evacuated.
He added that the Taipei City Government was reviewing how to integrate resources and manpower from the armed forces and national agencies in the event of a natural disaster.
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