In the wake of the recent devastating earthquake that struck Venezuela, the Dominican Republic is putting the final touches on plans to deploy its elite, internationally certified Type 1 Emergency Medical Team (EMT) as part of a targeted humanitarian mission to assist the crisis-hit nation.
This relief operation is being jointly coordinated by the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Public Health and the national Emergency Operations Center, known locally as COE. Under the mission framework, the Dominican government will dispatch a fully functional mobile hospital unit alongside a cohort of nearly 40 highly trained specialized healthcare and technical workers to deliver life-saving emergency medical care to those affected by the disaster.
The assembled multidisciplinary team brings together a diverse range of expertise, including attending physicians, registered nurses, clinical pharmacists, mental health psychologists, and specialized water and sanitation engineers. This breadth of skills allows the team to deliver a comprehensive suite of medical and support services, spanning general outpatient care, pediatric treatment, gynecological care, emergency patient stabilization for critical cases, minor surgical procedures, medical intervention for toxic exposure, and much-needed mental health support for survivors grappling with disaster-related trauma.
The deployment comes directly after an official decision by Dominican President Luis Abinader to extend immediate support to Venezuelan emergency management authorities as they work to address the spiraling humanitarian crisis triggered by the earthquake.
Notably, the Dominican Republic’s Type 1 EMT holds a rare distinction for the Latin American and Caribbean region: it is one of only a handful of teams in the area to earn official certification from both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). The team secured this international credential in 2024, after successfully demonstrating it meets all of the bodies’ rigorous global standards for emergency disaster response.
Dominican government officials emphasized that this humanitarian mission reflects the country’s longstanding commitment to regional solidarity, cross-border cooperation in times of crisis, and shared responsibility to deliver life-saving specialized support to fellow nations grappling with the impact of natural disasters.