Meditox
Meditox was a medical and toxicological information system used by the German state of Baden-Württemberg . It was initially put into operation in 1996 as an information center for dangerous goods and major damage cases involving chemical substances, but was expanded to include other tasks in this area.
Meditox was a joint project of the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Social Affairs and the DRF Luftrettung , for which a supplementary framework agreement was concluded between the state and the DRF as the legal basis. Since 2000, Meditox has been named in the Baden-Württemberg rescue service plan as a supraregional institution. Similar to the individual advice given by poison information centers on the acute treatment of poisoning, Meditox is intended to serve as an information system for rescue workers in the event of chemical accidents . For this purpose, information is provided on the spreading behavior, hazard and necessary measures for the individual leaked substances. In the case of still unknown substances, Meditox also supports the analysis and identification of the substances.
Thanks to the cooperation with the air rescue alarm center, Meditox can also take care of, for example, the transport of victims to nearby hospitals, the procurement of large numbers of medicines or the information of the public if necessary.
Since 1996 Meditox has also kept a database of drugs that are required in the event of major chemical accidents. The average stock in the country's hospital pharmacies and emergency depots is also taken into account in order to provide the emergency services with information on logistics in the event of a chemical accident.
The threat of terrorist attacks since September 11, 2001 can be seen as a subsequent justification for expanding the drug database, although at the time of creation the focus was on optimizing the supply of drugs in the event of accidents involving toxic chemicals. The database was therefore expanded to include the extensive group of antibiotics in particular. During the preparations for the 2006 soccer World Cup , the pharmaceuticals in the federal government's “Basic Sanitary Material Package” were also included in this database. In this way, Meditox can serve as a central contact and advisor for on-site operations management during large-scale operations of various types.
MEDITOX's consulting work was free of charge. If the MEDITOX analysis unit (professional fire brigade Mannheim) was involved, the costs incurred were billed internally by the fire brigade according to the polluter pays principle.
Meditox appears to have been discontinued in mid-2013 for cost reasons. The former homepage www.meditox.org is for sale.
literature
- A.Reichert, R.Walther, M.Weinlich, R.Spörri: Meditox - A quick information system for medical-toxicological advice in cases of major damage involving dangerous substances and goods . In: Emergency & Rescue Medicine . tape 5 , 2002, p. 186-189 .
- Wolfgang Wagner (project management and editing): Emergency and Disaster Pharmacy Volume 1, Civil Protection and Emergency Medical Care . Ed .: Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Aid & German Society for Disaster Medicine eV Medienhaus Plump, Rheinbreitbach 2009, ISBN 978-3-939347-18-7 ( full text (pdf) ).