By Tauseef-ur-Rahman
Soon after the blast, a large number of people thronged the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department of the LRH in search of their near and dear ones. Grief, panic and confusion prevailed in the casualty department as people were desperately searching for their loved ones in various wards.
As many as 20 people were killed and over 50 injured were brought to the A&E Department. The police and hospital administration despite their tiring efforts could not control the flow of desperate relatives as well as onlookers, who were in no mood to listen to the staff.
The chief executive of the hospital, Dr Hameed Afridi, was looking after the situation. He tried to console people by telling them not to enter the wards of A & E Department as the doctors and nurses were busy in providing medical aid to the needy. But he had to allow the people in as they refused to listen to him.
“The department is already short of space and presence of five to six attendants with a patient as well as the onlookers obstructs healthcare, increases the chances of infection and cause lack of oxygen in the ward that is harmful to the patients,” a doctor on duty said.
The NWFP has been bearing the brunt of militancy for the last several years. The LRH is the largest tertiary care hospital of the province and it has to share 90 per cent burden of emergency health delivery whenever a big terror incident takes place in any part of the province.
Hospital staff as well as civil defense workers and volunteers of a welfare organisation stood alert and shifted the injured inside A&E Department. Ambulances were seeing entering the hospital one after another, rushing the injured as well as the bodies.
A scuffle was also witnessed on the occasion between police and class-IV employees of the hospital. However, the senior police officials and hospital management intervened and resolved the issue amicably.
The visits of heavily guarded politicians further compounded the situation. “The visit of politicians distracts us from our duties. Some of them even enter the operation theatre as nobody can dare stop them,” said another doctor on duty.
The politicians should at least wait for three hours after such incidents and then they should visit the health facility if they think that their presence can be of any help to the injured, he added.The policemen were also seen struggling to disperse people gathered near the inner gates of the A&E Department.