Health

In photos: Kazakhstani medics learn key first aid skills

Laypersons and paramedics can carry out simple acts to halt blood loss, enable normal breathing and prevent hypothermia, medics learned in a recent training in Astana.

By Aydar Ashimov

2018-04-30

US trainers April 25 in Astana explain the different types of wounds that patients can suffer. [Aydar Ashimov]

It is essential to place an injured person on his or her side with head angled slightly downward, according to US State Department Emergency Management Specialist Steven Colby. This potentially lifes-saving position allows someone to breathe normally. [Aydar Ashimov]

Colby trains Kazakhstani medics on how to halt bleeding from a penetration wound by using adhesive tape and a gauze pad. [Aydar Ashimov]

Medics practice bandaging an underarm wound (with a bandage extending to the patient's neck). [Aydar Ashimov]

Medics need to keep bleeding patients warm and to prevent hypothermia, said Colby. One method relies on a special heat-reflecting blanket. [Aydar Ashimov]

Colby explains when a tourniquet is necessary and when a tight bandage will suffice. [Aydar Ashimov]

Colby demonstrates specially designed and highly effective tourniquets that American paramedics use to halt bleeding. [Aydar Ashimov]

Colby demonstrates how to use a special tube to restore a patient's breathing. [Aydar Ashimov]

ASTANA -- The Educational-Clinical Centre "Astana", with the support of the US embassy in Kazakhstan, hosted a free training session April 25 for emergency medical personnel aimed at teaching basic first aid, according to centre representatives.

Paramedics provide urgent assistance to the injured before hospitalisation, explained US trainers.

"For severe trauma, we have only six minutes to provide urgent assistance [before rapid deterioration of a patient's chances]," US State Department Emergency Management Specialist Steven Colby, one of the trainers who took part in the session, told Caravanserai.

Laypersons and paramedics can carry out simple acts to halt blood loss, enable normal breathing and prevent hypothermia, he said.

Raikhan Mussina, the director general of the Astana Educational-Clinical Centre, described such knowledge as very important.

The training was extremely useful for Kazakhstani medics, said Mussina.

"Our American colleagues are providing instruction for us at no charge," she told Caravanserai. "That will serve further co-operation and strengthening of ties between the peoples of Kazakhstan and the United States."