Tawam Hospital, in affiliation with Johns Hopkins Medicine, and Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA) has held an emergency preparedness exercise to assess the coordination and response times of various hospital departments in the event of an infant or child abduction.

Tawam Hospital regularly holds emergency drills to familiarize staff and relevant authorities, including local fire and police units, with crisis protocol. This particular drill, ‘Code Amber’, was unannounced and held after normal working hours, as per new SEHA mandate. The drill was held to aid staff in their management and respective security collaborations in the process of locating and recovering an abducted infant from the hospital and returning the patient to the parents.

Mr. Ahmed Malalla Al Ali , Disaster Program Manager / Risk Manager said “The recent disaster exercise arranged by Tawam is a testament of how seriously the hospital takes its commitment to patients and the community. The exercise was a success. The objective of the exercise was for the Tawam team to test the decision making processes under pressure, recover the abducted infant and maintain business continuity during facility lockdown.

In addition to addressing the security and infant recovery issues and collaboration with both the Al Ain and wider national police forces, the drill also involved numerous internal teams including the Communications Department and Mental Health Support Services for those involved.

Steven A. Matarelli, Chief Operating Officer of Tawam Hospital, said, “At Tawam Hospital we take the safety of our patents very seriously. While the UAE is a very safe country, practicing emergency drills such as the ‘Code Amber’ alert are important for staff and law enforcement to ensure that effective plans are in place, should the unlikely situation of infant abduction ever arise. These types of drills help enhance awareness and offer an opportunity for the hospital to work collaboratively with the local authorities. By all accounts, the drill was a success. Testing of all emergency plans on a regular basis is a requirement of our international accreditation standing as well as the regulations of our local authority.”

Tawam Hospital is part of the SEHA Health System and is owned and operated by SEHA, which is responsible for the curative activities of all the public hospitals and clinics in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

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