Thursday was a regular day for doctors at the Osmania General Hospital (OGH). Doctors were on duty and the patient inflow was normal. However, around 7:15 pm, the doctors were informed of a mass casualty.
And, since the hostel is nearby, doctors who were not on duty too volunteered. But what they saw was something they hadn’t even imagined. Around 33 injured were brought to the hospital, while 12 dead bodies were taken to the mortuary directly.
Dr Abid, Post-Graduate, general surgery, who was on duty, recalls, “All the duty doctors from every department and the ones from the hostel were geared up to treat the incoming victims. Injuries included burns, hollow intestines and head injuries. Victims included a lot of young men aged between 20 and 25.” The doctors tried to save as many lives as possible but were hampered by lack of equipment.
Dr Aditya Vikram Kabra, chairperson of the AP Junior Doctors’ Association, said, “I was not on duty, but all of us were called once the news of mass casualty was reported. We were ready to even perform as many as 30 operations simultaneously. But, the facilities at the hospital are not up-to-the-mark.”
“The CT scan machine has not been working for 15 days, but nothing was done to fix the same.
How will we gauge internal injuries or bleeding without a CT scan?” he questioned.
Apart from that, some of the wards were under renovation, leading to outflow of patients to private hospitals. Which meant loss of precious time and possibly, lives. Two patients died during resuscitation.
By Friday morning, most of the patients were shifted to private hospitals (Care, Yashoda), with only two patients staying back at the Osmania General Hospital.
“Despite our resolve to save lives, due to lack of facilities at the hospital, most of the patients were shifted to private hospitals,” said Dr Kabra.
“Doctors at Osmania are the best, but if we are not provided with facilities, there is not much that we can do. I think that is shameful that the patients were shifted from Osmania," he added.