Targeted, but doctors carry on at Civil Hospital

In every crisis, it is the doctor who saves the day. But this time they were bigger heroes because they were attacked, reports Kiran Wadhwa.

In every crisis, it is the doctor who saves the day. But this time they were bigger heroes because they were attacked.

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For the first time, hospitals were targeted and doctors did not buckle under pressure. Several were injured, many saw their colleagues die, but they still worked.

Civil Hospital saw the worst tragedy when they lost a resident orthopedic surgeon, Parek Shah, 32, and his six-month pregnant wife, Kinjal, 28.

According to close friends of the family, Kinjal was waiting the entire day to go to the hospital for her maternity check-up. “Shah, who was busy in the hospital didn't get time to bring his wife,” said a family friend. The couple lived nearby and Kinjal finally went to the hospital where she met her husband.

The blast at the hospital killed four people died. Around 20 members of the staff were injured.

“It has been very hectic and emotional. To lose someone of your own is painful, but everyone in the hospital put their pain aside and worked through the night,” said Piyush Mittal, assistant professor, orthopedics. “I lost a very valuable and talented doctor.”

Resident doctors who witnessed the blast from their hostels came rushing out. Their first impulse was to rescue the injured. “Everybody came running out immediately after the first blast. No one even once thought of their safety and have worked relentlessly through the night,” said Keta Parekh, a third year MBBS student.

Dr Satapara, the post-mortem in charge, stood for 16 hours and looked through
35 bodies. “They just came rolling in every two minutes. We had to identify them, conduct the procedure. So many dead in a day.”