Health ministry gathers 150 disaster medical responders for two-day drill in Cheonan

The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Medical Center are staging the 2026 Comprehensive Disaster Emergency Medical Training Competition from Nov. 10 to 11 at the JEI Talent Education Training Center in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province. Fifteen teams of 10 will take part, drawn from public health centers, disaster base hospitals and fire services in all 15 cities and provinces, with about 250 people on site including 40 observers and 60 organizers.

Each team pairs four members of a public health center rapid response unit with four from a hospital disaster medical assistance team, known as DMAT, and two fire service paramedics. The drill runs the entire response as one scenario, from the first fire service dispatch through the handover to a field emergency medical station set up and run by the rapid response units and DMAT. Under the command of the station chief, who is the public health center director, triage, treatment, transport and administrative teams go into operation, with medical support deployed from the CODE-Orange stage onward.

Training is split into simulation-based tabletop exercises and hands-on drills in which participants practice operating equipment. The ministry has run a nationwide exercise since 2016; this is the ninth edition, with the 2020 and 2021 events cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

DMAT teams, made up of doctors, nurses, emergency medical technicians and administrative staff, provide on-site emergency care at mass-casualty scenes. There are 56 disaster base hospitals nationwide, each with its own team.

"Organic cooperation between the relevant agencies and a swift response are more important than anything else when a mass-casualty accident occurs," said Lee Jung-kyu, the ministry's public health policy director. "This training competition will be a valuable opportunity to re-examine and improve our disaster response capabilities."

Awards are planned for the top three teams overall and two special-prize teams, who will receive the health minister's award, while six teams recognized for excellence in the tabletop and skills drills will receive the National Medical Center president's award.