Rompetrol continues to support the development of emergency response system by purchasing a SimX virtual reality learning technology, which allows continuous training of professionals in this field – doctors, medical assistants, firemen. The value of the project exceeds $200,000.
“Since 2009, we have been partners of SMURD and support emergency medical services, an essential pillar of the health system. Our support over the years consisted in fuel for medical helicopters, the purchase and donation of fully equipped van-type mobile training centers, medical equipment - ECMO, protective equipment for emergency personnel, and during the pandemic - a mobile intensive care unit with 12 beds. Through our joint projects, with national impact, we support intervention teams in such a critical field where seconds mean life” – Iskander Abdibaitov, Chief Officer Corporate Development.
”Only through adequate and continuous training of doctors, assistants, paramedics and firemen we create the prerequisites for prompt and effective interventions, as well as the proper coordinated intervention skills specific to this field. Traditionally this was done through extensive and expensive field exercises. The training that can be carried out with the virtual reality systems currently available in our endowment with the support of Rompetrol allow the realization of complex realistic scenarios both for the basic training of professionals and for practicing the procedures of interventions, integration, collaboration and coordination of the participating teams in continuous training exercises, with a higher net cost-time-benefit ratio than mobilizing all resources out in the field." – Dr. Raed Arafat, Head of Department for Emergency Situations.
The SimX virtual reality system is based on different emergency scenarios, with virtual patients – adults and children, whether in an ambulance, in a hospital or at the scene of an accident – which offers unlimited training possibilities by creating different scenarios. The system can be used on a large scale in the training of doctors, assistants and paramedics, both individually and as a team, and the training schedule at the national level is made by the National Center for Training in Emergency Medical Assistance in partnership with the Department for Emergency Situations.
Also, with the support of Rompetrol, the XVR system was updated, and this allows the simulation of virtual scenarios such as: fire, large-scale road, railway and aviation accidents, situations involving dangerous chemical substances, events that may occur as a result of unfavorable weather conditions. These virtual reality simulations, conducted with the actual participation of emergency personnel, are used to practice the cooperation and management of major emergencies at the level of command and coordination centers. The XVR system became part of the National Emergency Medical Training Center in Târgu Mureş in 2013.
The SimX and XVR systems were demonstratively used, for the first time this year, within EUMODEX 2022, with a simulation of a chemical accident in which, following the activation of the European Civil Protection Mechanism, mobile hospital crews from Romania, Italy and Germany participated, as well as participants from Austria, Turkey, Israel, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Spain, England, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic; over 600 people were involved in this large-scale exercise.
Both projects – the acquisition of SimX and the update of the XVR system were carried out by Rompetrol in partnership with the SMURD Foundation. During 2020-2022 the company invested more than 1 million USD in projects for the development of the emergency system at national level.