Biological Drill
Biological DrillYoni Kempinski

On Tuesday, the “Orange Flame 5” drill began. The drill, conducted by the Emergency Department at the Ministry of Health, focuses on a biological outbreak of an infectious disease in the center of Israel. Taking part in the drill are Home Front Command, the Ministry of Health and Magen David Adom paramedics, who are practicing under full cooperation with one another, as is required in emergency procedures.

At the start of the drill, that will continue until Wednesday afternoon, the participants practiced scenarios in which a large number of Israelis are infected with the disease. The hospitals and clinics in the various cities taking part in the drill, as well as police forces, Magen David Adom ambulances, paramedics, and other emergency forces, are trained on providing the most comprehensive and effective response to the spreading of the disease and on working to reduce the damage caused by it.

Magen David Adom said that as part of the drill it is making use of modern means of protection to prevent infection from various diseases. Among those is a special low-pressure bed designed to move patients suspected of having been infected, as well as a machine which disinfects ambulances after they have been used to transport infected patients.

The cities taking part in the drill are Ramat Hasharon, Kfar Saba, Ramla, Rehovot, and Rishon LeZion. Throughout the drill a high volume of ambulances will travel through participating cities, as well as paramedics and members of various Magen David Adom units.

MDA chief Eli Bin said: “This drill will examine the maximum cooperation between all the different rescue forces, as well as MDA’s ability to handle many casualties within a short time period while minimizing the damage caused by the infectious disease. This is a scenario which is not detached from reality and a great importance must be attributed to it. I see great importance in the existence of this drill and wish all its participants success.”