Put an emergency kit together: medication and first aid

The European Commission is advising everyone to put an emergency kit together. Such an emergency kit would allow you to survive for at least 72 hours in the event of war, a natural disaster or new epidemic. 

Besides water, food and batteries your emergency kit should also include certain medication and other items from your pharmacy cabinet. What is listed below can be obtained from your pharmacy without prescription. If you or a family member are taking essential medication on prescription, you should then also keep a small supply, being enough for three days.

1. Dressing, plasters and compresses

This is a list to choose from :

• adhesive plasters, preferably hypo-allergenic

• wound plasters, individually wrapped and on a roll

• steri-strips for small cuts that do not need to be stitched

• styptic cotton wool

• sterile compresses: individually wrapped (5 cm x 5 cm), to clean wounds and cover and to protect them as necessary

• bandages

• some sterile pressure bandages

2. Disinfectant

This is preferably a non- or minor-colouring, non-stinging disinfectant such as (an aqueous solution based on) chlorhexidine, tosylchloramide or povidone iodine. Different disinfectants are available in handy packages for single use.

3. Handy tools

• scissors

• tweezers

• safety pins

• temperature thermometer

4. Medication

An antipyretic and analgesic, such as paracetamol, aspirin and/or ibuprofen, is indispensable. You should also have a small supply of less necessary but still useful medication to treat abdominal pain, nausea or diarrhoea.

Hopefully you will never need your emergency kit, but should that ever be the case be sure that everything is still usable. So regularly check the expiry dates on the items in your kit (for example every year) and replace them as necessary.