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Earth
Quake in Pakistan
Northern areas of Pakistan
were struck with a high magnitude 7.6 Richter scale earth Quake
on 8th October 2005 at 8:50 am. A rescue team was immediately constituted by a committee of Federal
secretary Health, Director General Health, ED JPMC and
Director NICH Karachi. A 31 member’s team of specialists,
doctors, paramedics and technicians was constituted for travel
to northern areas. The rescue team was on air on
Sunday 9/10/2005 at 11:30 am. On arrival in Islamabad we were air lifted by
Army helicopters to Mansehra. We immediately went to Mansehra
district HQ hospital which is the first major
hospital draining Balakot, Gari Habibullah and Kashmir. When we arrived in the hospital it was a war situation where hundred of
patients were lying on the floors in open space as the
hospital was badly damaged by the E quake. We were the first
civilian team to reach the area. Local doctors and paramedics
had worked extremely hard and were totally exhausted. They got
the sigh of relief when they saw us. We immediately took over
the management of the patients and relieved the local doctors
for rest. The situation was mad. There were patients lying on
the floor with crush injuries, multiple fractures, extensive
wounds, pneumothorax and all sort of known injuries.
Unfortunately most wounds were badly contaminated with mud and
dust. On the second day we saw two patients with tetanus and
many more have been identified later. We made sure that all
patients must receive tetanus prophylaxis and
antibiotics. Most procedures were done under local anaesthesia;
bad wounds were managed by ketamine in the open ground. Next
day we established two operation theatres in tents and one
mobile theatre was also constituted. A Surgeon in Mansehra
opened his private hospital for us and we also operated
patients in that hospital for three days. Two orthopaedic
teams from Lahore and
Peshawar also joined and established 3 new theatres. They
worked very hard and operated on countless number of patients
day and night. On the third day we also moved some of our
doctors to Shaeena Jamil hospital in Abbottabad and they
operated on paediatric patients. I am proud to say the team of
medics from JPMC and NICH worked non stop for hours after
hours and provided care to the injured patients beyond human
capabilities. There will not be any official records
available in the given circumstances but according to DHO
records more than 6000 patients were treated in first few
days. Mean while local administration converted the Gov
Degree college Mansehra to a make shift hospital and about 500
patients were admitted in that hospital. Now it has more than
800 patients. In DHQ Mansehra on average 700 were admitted
every day. On average 1300 dressings and procedures were
performed each day. There were more teams deputed from JPMC
and NICH. One team of 16 medics is now in Bagh Kashmir. After
5 days of rigorous work the team showed signs of serious
exhaustion. At that time the number of acute casualties had
also decreased we decided to replace the existing team with
fresh team and thus we requested for our replacement and a
team headed by Prof Asghar Channa joined us on Friday evening.
Meanwhile we received message from Islamabad that they were in
need of paediatric surgeons we deputed a team of three doctors
and three technicians to Children hospital PIMS Islamabad
where they are still operating since Friday.
Beside this there was
overwhelming response by the various donor agencies. I
received hundreds of phone call for donations. Child Aid
association, Sadda Welfare, Rotary Contenetal, lexempak, JPMC,
NICH, and many other organizations sent huge amount of aid
goods through us which was handed over to local organizers for
the victims. Beside this there were innumerable number of
donation of medicine, cash, food, tents and other material. I
received innumerable phone calls and emails from abroad for
donations and condolence.
At this moment I am unable to
express my emotions about the incidence but I wish to say a
few words about the contribution of the Pakistani Nation after
the disaster. I can not express in words the sympathy,
financial, moral and physical support which was provided by
the Pakistani Nation to their Fellow Human beings. Local
community in Mansehra and volunteers from all over Pakistan
and Pakistan Army made their best efforts to provide relief to
the affected families. The emotion of the Nation has been
symbolic I feel proud to be Pakistani and thank the whole
Nation for showing the symbolic solidarity at this historic
human tragedy.
Dr Iftikhar A Jan
Managing Secretary
Association Of Pediatric Surgeons of Pakistan
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