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Post-War Kosovo: Part 3. Development and Rehabilitation of Emergency Services

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Julian Lis ,
M. James Eliades ,
Dukagjin Benishi ,
Bajram Koci ,
David Gettle  and
Michael J. VanRooyen
Julian Lis
Affiliation:
The Center for International Emergency, Disaster and Refugee Studies, Department of Emergency Medicine,Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
M. James Eliades
Affiliation:
The Center for International Emergency, Disaster and Refugee Studies, Department of Emergency Medicine,Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Dukagjin Benishi
Affiliation:
Prishtina Hospital Emergency Center, Prishtina, Kosovo
Bajram Koci
Affiliation:
Prishtina Hospital Emergency Center, Prishtina, Kosovo
David Gettle
Affiliation:
Samaritan's Purse International Relief, Boone, North Carolina, USA
Michael J. VanRooyen*
Affiliation:
The Center for International Emergency, Disaster and Refugee Studies, Department of Emergency Medicine,Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA Samaritan's Purse International Relief, Boone, North Carolina, USA
*
Center for International Emergency, Disaster and Refugee Studies, Department of Emergency Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University, 1830 E. Monument St., Suite 6-100, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
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Abstract

The recent crisis in Kosovo led to nearly complete destruction of a healthcare system serving the needs of approximately 2 million people. Even prior to the crisis, the pre-existing healthcare system had inadequate provisions for the delivery of Emergency Medical Services. More than 440 diverse governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) arrived to assist (and often compete) in the rehabilitation of Kosovo's healthcare needs. Each brought with them individual biases and strategies for how this rehabilitation should occur, and each faced numerous unforeseen barriers to the implementation of its programs.

The authors used a four-step, multi-modal, needs assessment to gather information on the needs and potential barriers to the implementation of a program to rehabilitate emergency services as discussed in Part II. This paper chronicles the phases of the Emergency Medicine program development and the process of responding to barriers and changing needs. The program's successes and failures are noted, and the actual barriers encountered are reviewed. Overall, the needs assessment tool employed in this program was useful in the implementation of a program to restore and rehabilitate Emergency Services in Kosovo. The authors recommend the use of combined quantitative and qualitative methods for developing priorities for interventions in post-conflict settings following complex emergencies.

Keywords

emergency medical systemsinternational emergency medicineKosovoprehospital medicinequalitative methods
Type
Part II: Complex Emergencies: Research Initiatives
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 16 , Special Issue 4: Complex Emergencies , December 2001 , pp. 275 - 280
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2001

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References

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