Srinagar: At a time when Kashmir is facing a crisis, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) today said that valley hospitals lack the capacity to handle mass casualties.
Expressing concern President DAK Dr Nisar ul Hassan in a statement said hospitals in Kashmir are unable to tackle large patient load from a catastrophic event.
Hospital services fall short when it comes to deal with incidents of mass casualties.
They lack treatment and surgical capacity to cope with large number of injured persons.
They lack infrastructure, space, supplies and staff to manage sudden influx of an unexpected patient load during a disaster.
SMHS, which is the main referral hospital for trauma patients, does not have the physical and technical capacity to handle mass casualty events.
It has just three operating tables for emergency patients with which it struggles to care for patients on a normal day.
There is no designated disaster ward and no concept of reserved staff in case of large scale disasters.
Due to lack of quarters most of the staff does not reside within hospital premises which limits the ability to mobilize them in case of emergency.
None of the hospitals has a disaster management plan and there is no formal training in disaster medicine to staff. “Lack of prehospital care is responsible for preventable deaths”.
On scene triage which is essential to prioritize critically injured out of a large pool of patients, is virtually non-existent.
Most of the injured die due to delay in transportation to hospitals.
Chances of survival following injuries depend on how fast the patients can be evacuated to a facility that is able to provide treatment for their injuries. (CNS)
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