The SNS is designed to provide a back-up and continuous supply of essential medical items to communities during emergency situations.
With response time of as little as 12 hours, the SNS has the capability to provide assistance to local health authorities that may be overwhelmed by the crisis.
The MOH, together with the National Emergency Management Office, aims is to provide participants “with an opportunity to evaluate current response concepts, functions and capabilities in responding to a nationally declared emergency using the SNS plan.”
Part of the exercises will be an anthrax drill where participants will be evaluated based on the way they’re going to handle mock emergency situations.
“One of the reasons for the SNS drill is to see if there was anthrax introduced to Palau through postal service. How would we respond to it and how do we deal with it,“ said Minister of Health Stevenson Kuartei.
Palau will be the first Pacific Island to undertake a Full Scale SNS exercise. Other neighboring islands and partners will participate as observers and evaluators during the exercise.
