RescEU

The European Commission has created a reserve of additional security capacities (the "rescEU reserve") as part of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.
 
RescEU aims to provide assistance in situations where national capacities and those committed by Member States to the European Civil Protection Pool (ECPP) are not sufficient to provide an effective response to disasters. To date, the rescEU reserve includes aerial fire-fighting capacities, medical reserves, medical evacuation services and field hospitals.
 
Against this background, a consortium of eight Member States and Participating States was set up, under the leadership of the German NGO Johanniter and with the support of the European Commission and the WHO EMT Secretariat, to build the first European field hospital.

This is the rescEU EMT project: conception, procurement, stockpiling and operational readiness of 3 rescEU Emergency Medical Teams Type 2 and 17 specialised medical cells, under advice from the WHO EMT Initiative.
The rescEU EMT project is based on collaboration and cooperation between Member States and States participating in the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) that already have a WHO-classified Emergency Medical Team Type 1 or 2 ready for deployment worldwide.
 
As part of the rescEU EMT project, Belgium has undertaken to develop two specialised care modules:

  • BRRT: Burn Rapid Response Team
    This is the module for burn victims.

The BRRT module's mission is as follows:

  • ​treating the first burn victims and patients, including mass casualty incidents;
  • excluding other serious injuries and starting appropriate burn care pending transfer to a burn care referral centre or other care facility. Local teams are quickly deployed (within 6 to 12 hours) from the national burn care centre;
  • helping with the final triage and taking part in decision-making regarding the distribution of patients, whether or not they go to hospital.​

Mother&Child Specialised Care Team
The "Mother & Child Specialised Care Team" module is designed to provide additional care within EMT2/EMT3 teams or within a local care structure. The services offered will be specifically focusing on reproductive, maternal, neonatal and pediatric health care, with the aim of maintaining the health of women and children affected by the disaster. These two specialised care teams will have to be able to operate both independently and in support of local care structures or EMT2/EMT3.

The rescEU EMT capability will become gradually operational by the end of 2024, and will allow a response to a wide range of disasters (earthquakes, typhoons, tsunamis, pandemics, etc.).