Tokyo 2020 Olympics Medical Care and Evacuation Plan

Tokyo 2020 Olympics Medical Care and Evacuation Plan

Introduction

One of the events that are known to bring countries together is the Olympics. Even though achieving global peace is a key objective of international events, there are various risks, crises, and disasters that require the participants and those responsible for organizing the events to be aware of. A crisis refers to a critical event that, if not addressed effectively and at the appropriate time, it will halt the operations of an organization or an event.

Before the mega-events like the 2020 Olympics taking place this summer July 24 through August 9 in Tokyo, Japan, it is vital for the organizers to create a proper disaster recovery plan. One of the main elements of the plan in having an effective communication process. This means that the contacts of all the stakeholders should be properly recorded.  Other areas that the organizers should consider include effective planning of the equipment, installing an effective data continuity system, installing a backup check, establishing a detailed asset inventory, and a service restoration plan (Entech, 2018). This paper aims at discussing the strategies that will be put in place in arranging for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics medical care and evacuation of the most seriously injured if it will be necessary.

Medical Care Plan in the 2020 Olympics

Before the start of the mega event, there will be a need to invest in an automated medical encounter system that will be used in the cycling village stations, Olympic Village Polyclinic, and in the sailing village medical station. Apart from proper data collection during the Olympics, the medical system will be used by the team doctors. The treating professionals will be responsible for entering data related to the athletes who will visit the medical stations and competition venues.

Team Doctors

To ensure that medical care will be provided as per the requirements of the Olympic International Committee, team doctors will be required to register with Tokyo 2020 before the event. The registration process is available on Tokyo 2020 Connect, and it will indicate the privileges and access of NOC team doctors.  In addition, the primary rights of the team doctors will be provided to ensure there will be no any form of contradiction when providing medicare to the participants.

The NOC team doctors will be responsible for administering medical treatment to their delegations. In addition, the doctors will have an opportunity to ask for diagnostic imaging, for instance, X-ray, MRI, and ultrasound besides laboratory tests that will be performed by the Polyclinic. Adequate preparation of the Polyclinic will be of significance during the event since it will also provide physical therapy services that are likely to be highly demanded. Another responsibility of the NOC team doctors is that they will be involved in prescribing medications that will be freely provided to parties of their own delegation.

Establishment of Medical Headquarters

A coordination headquarter will be established in Tokyo that will be under the management of a Chief Medical Officer. The headquarters will have the role of coordinating the medical operations across all venues of the games and Olympic Villages. In addition, the Chief Medical Officer will coordinate staffing, including the allocation and management of volunteers, medical supply chain procedures, patients transferred in various venues besides managing efficient discharge (George, Walker and Monster, 2019). Another duty of the officer will be reporting directly to the IOC Medical Director and the Main Operation Centre, thus ensuring a constant flow of information among delegations and NOC team doctors (Olympic Healthcare Guide, 2019). Other vital medical services that the Chief Medical Officer engages in include assisting in the coordination of possible emergency responses, liaising with government agencies such as the local municipalities and Tokyo Metropolitan Government to deal with issues that relate to public health surveillance, mass casualty events and inspections of venues.

Medical Services Provided By Olympic Villages

Through the use of Rate Card, the Olympic Villages will sell various therapy and medical items to the athletes and other stakeholders. These items include portable treatment table, body cuff-ankle, examination light, body cuff-knee, trolleys, body cuff-shoulder, portable screen, chilling unit, scale, and hydrocollator (Ripley, Ogura and Griffiths, March 11, 2016).  The Polyclinic services that will be provided during the Tokyo Olympics is dentistry. The dental services will focus on the dental care of the team officials and athletes. This will include dental screening and improving the oral health of the athletes. The Tokyo 2020 Ophthalmology Service will give essential treatment for officials and athletes, including providing contact lenses and glasses. The physical therapy services to be provided by the Polyclinics include sports massage, electrotherapy, acupuncture, and cryotherapy.

Evacuation Plan during the 2020 Olympics

In the case of the occurrence of a Tsunami, many people can be affected during the Tokyo Olympics (The Mainichi, April 9, 2019). Likewise, the occurrence of a disaster within a nuclear plant like in Fukushima Daiichi can result in many injuries and deaths (Ripley, Ogura and Griffiths, March 11, 2016). To effectively evacuate the spectators when such a disaster occurs, there a need to increase the number of the current evacuation facilities from the current 6 to 10. Proper evacuation will also be conducted through adequate education and training of the staff. In addition, local authorities will be involved in the evacuation process since they will provide ambulances and the sharing of vital information during the mega event.

Yachts will be of great significance during the evacuation, especially if an earthquake occurs. Additionally, the organizers will be required to invest in life jackets to be used by staffers. Generally, the evacuation plan will include a teamwork comprising of government agencies, athletes, spectators, military, non-governmental organizations, medical personnel, and weather forecast experts among other individuals.

Conclusion

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics is an event that will bring together many countries across the globe. Given a large number of people, estimated to be 7.8 and 10 million who will visit Tokyo, disasters may occur, thus calling the need to have proper medical care and evacuation plan. The team doctors will carry out various medical services across the stations, including diagnostic imaging, for instance, X-ray, MRI, and ultrasound besides laboratory tests. The Olympic Villages will also sell most of the items that will be required by the athletes and team officials. Even though Tokyo is well-prepared for the evacuation process, there a need to make further improvements and test the current strategies to evaluate their effectiveness.