The Major Incident Hospital organisation is traditionally designed for the care of casualties of different forms of physical violence. Care facilities for casualties of nucleair, chemical or biological catastrophe are virtually non-existent in the Netherlands. Specific expertise is required for these cases, which for a large part is available in the Major Incident Hospital through collaboration with the National Poison Information Centre and others.
The infrastructure of the Major Incident Hospital, which, for example, has its own air conditioning system with special filters, is suitable for the care of patients under quarantine conditions. As a result of this, it is possible to provide centralised care for groups of patients with particular indectious diseases such as smallpox and SARS.