The organization of emergency health services in disasters and encountered problems

Hopa flood disaster occurred on August 24, 2015, led to many injuries and casualties as well as financial loss. From this point of view, the purpose of this study is to determine the problems occurring in the organization of the emergency health services in the Hopa flood disaster and to present the solution suggestions from the scientific point of view as a result of the evaluation. Qualitative research methods were used in our study. A semi-structured interview technique was applied to The National Medical Rescue Team (UMKE) leaders, who served during the Hopa flood disaster. In order to determine the problems of the organization of the emergency health services and to determine the problems in the disasters bilaterally, in-depth interviews were conducted with Hopa flood victims and the research data was obtained. When the data of our study is examined; it was determined that the teams reached the disaster area in the 3-6 hour period, the first rescue operation was carried out by the victims and the wounded people reached the hospital by their own means. With the lack of coordination and implementation, it was determined that the desire of the health team to meet the water and food needs of the victims was a management problem. However, it has been determined that the number of teams involved in the disaster was sufficient, equipment and medicine logistics were provided sufficiently and teams worked with great effort and in harmony. It is recommended that institutions explore their boundaries of technical, administrative and coordination competencies with desk work and field exercises in order to ensure coordination between health teams and other teams to be involved in disasters. When a disaster occurs, disaster victims must cope with their own resources until medical rescue teams reach the disaster area. In this context, it is considered important to increase the level of public awareness about disasters.