Special wards for disasters?

After a slew of blast victims plunged hospitals into complete chaos, authorities are mulling the idea of maintaining specially equipped wards to cope with the after effects of disaster

Special wards for disasters?

After a slew of blast victims plunged hospitals into complete chaos, authorities are mulling the idea of maintaining specially equipped wards to cope with the after effects of disaster

After their premises were choked with injured victims in the wake of Wednesday's triple blasts, the city's BMC run hospitals are toying with the idea of maintaining special 'disaster wards' within their precincts, wherein victims of any kind of catastrophic incident could receive prompt treatment.
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If the plans materialise, teams of doctors will be specially assigned to the units, and make themselves available round the clock.

BMC officials feel that a special ward to tackle
disasters in civic hospitals is the need of the hour

A senior official from the BMC's health department said, "The proposal for such a unit is being readied by Dr Sanjay Oak.

In this proposal, he will articulate the need to maintain disaster units at the three major civic run hospitals KEM hospital, Nair hospital, and Sion hospital.
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These wards will be manned by specially trained doctors three medicine experts and three surgeons. A team of paramedics will assist them. This team will be specially equipped to treat disaster victims."

A doctor from KEM said, on condition of anonymity, "In the aftermath of disasters, a number of victims are rushed to the civic run hospitals.

All the doctors are roped in for their treatment, and this sometimes leads to mismanagement and chaos. It will definitely help to have a special unit or ward at our disposal, designed specially to handle such a situation."

Dr Sanjay Oak, the director of medical education and the dean of KEM hospital said, "The proposal is in the process of being drafted. It is an absolute necessity in major hospitals.

JJ and KEM hospitals should be equipped with disaster units, as many victims are brought in here for treatment. These wards would be useful in coping with the aftereffects of any kinds of disaster that strikes the city.

They will be designed specially to treat victims, say when a building collapses, or major fire takes place, or even after a blast, like Wednesday's."

He added that the matter was being thoroughly discussed, and a consensus was expected soon.

BMC's standing committee chairman Rahul Shewale said, "This is a commendable idea, especially in a city where disaster strikes frequently."

The Additional Municipal Commissioner (health) Manisha Mhaiskar, however, did not appear very convinced about the feasibility of maintaining such a ward, saying, "Victims come in with different problems and injuries.
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While one may complain about arm injury, requiring an orthopaedic's expertise; another might be suffering from kidney damage, needing a nephrologist's aid. It might be a wiser option to upgrade the existing system. This will be an ongoing process."