RML hospital goes out of its way to save lives

When 56 of the 76 injured in Wednesday’s blast were brought to the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital because of its proximity to the high court, hospital authorities decided to treat first and do the paperwork later.

When 56 of the 76 injured in Wednesday’s blast were brought to the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital because of its proximity to the high court, hospital authorities decided to treat first and do the paperwork later.

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“From our past experiences, we have learnt that time is wasted in preparing the case files, which tend to take priority over treatment. So, this time, we decided to treat every case as an unknown case, with focus on treatment first,” said Dr Sunil Saxena, casualty medical officer at RML.

Thirteen of the 56 who were admitted were discharged by Friday evening.

A 200-member team, including 70 doctors, was pressed into emergency duty on Wednesday.

Five minutes after the first victim arrived, a 30-bed fully-equipped disaster ward, usually kept vacant, was opened.

“We called all the neuro and ortho surgeons and also the anaesthetists the moment we learnt it was a blast. All the scheduled surgeries were cancelled and the operation theatres were prepared for the blast victims,” said Saxena.

On Wednesday alone, 25 surgeries were performed stretching till the wee hours of Thursday. By Friday evening, 30 surgeries had been performed at the hospital.

Most of the injured have received shrapnel injuries.

Nitin M, 37, a software consultant has more than 1,000 pellets embedded in his legs and face.

Tarun Yadav, 32, a shopkeeper, has a C-shaped nail lodged in his left thigh, and Pramod Mahindera, 55, has shrapnels in his right foot.

“Unless they are projecting out or pressing some nerve causing pain, we do not disturb these pellets,” said Saxena.

At present, 31 people are still admitted at the hospital.