Moving scenes at Lahore hospitals after suicide blasts

Shahid Aslam
LAHORE: Fifteen persons expired and another 78 injured persons were brought to Lahore General Hospital after twin suicide blasts during Sunday rites in two churches here in Yuhannabad - a Christian parish on Ferozepur Road in the outskirts of Lahore.
Moving scenes were witnessed in and around the Lahore General Hospital, where the dead and injured persons were shifted for being nearest to the blast site where two powerful blasts ripped through the Christian congregations in two churches - Christchurch of the Protestants and Saint Jones Church of the Roman Catholics - in Yuhannabad situated between Chungi Amar Sadhu and Kahna.
Nine persons were received dead and another six expired during resuscitation soon after reaching the Lahore General Hospital emergency, although there were conflicting claims about the number of injured persons i.e. 70 and 78 as claimed by two of the responsible health authorities.
According to sources, 15 bodies were sent to mortuary of Jinnah Hospital, where the bodies had been handed over to their families. Those who died were Nadeem, Akash, M Siddique, Mukhtar, M Ramzan, Ilyas Bhatti, Abi Sheikh, Rashid, Asghar, Abid, Musa, Zahid Yousaf, Ambreen Abid and two unknown victims.
The injured included Joseph Francis, Saba, Basharat, Afzal, Afnan, Sunny Mukhtar, Mansoor Gill, Wahab, Rehana, Raja, Khaliq Masih, George Masih, Allah Ditta, Nadeem, Cecil, Beesh, Shafqat, Ashraf, Sikandar, Kashif, Younas, Mujahid, Ilyas, Musa, Anmol, Shamim, Sadiq, Asher, Yousaf, M Nooruddin, three policemen Asghar, Yawar Hayat and ASI Ghulam Rasool, Adnan, Basharat Irfan, Ambreen, Hameeda, Rafiq Masih, Arooj, Nadeem Farooq, Mansoor, Sumaira, Amir, Qaiser, Barkat, Khalid, Sajjad, Ubaida Masih, M Rafiq, Arshad, Hasan, Shahbaz, Humaira, Shazia, Rehana, Javed, Waqas, Azhar, Abdul Majeed, Muhammad Suleman, Moon Jaan, Kamran, Yousaf Rehmat, Danish, Khushi Masih, Ajwan Khan and four unknown persons.
DG Health Dr Zahid Pervaiz claimed that 78 injured persons had been brought to hospital, out of which, 12 patients were in a critical condition, including a couple of them on ventilators. However, Medical Superintendent of LGH Dr Saeed Soban said that 70 patients were brought to emergency and the number reduced to 64 after discharge of six patients immediately after necessary first aid treatment due to minor injuries. He informed that a total of 38 patients were still under treatment out of which 10 were in a critical condition, while two patients with burn injuries were shifted to Mayo Hospital. According to him, 24 more patients were discharged on becoming stable through proper treatment at around 6pm. The remaining patients were under treatment in emergency ward, neurosurgery ward and general surgery ward.
As soon as they received the news of suicide blasts, the LGH administration activated its Disaster Management System, which meant that all relevant professors, doctors, nurses and paramedical staff were called to cater to the emergency despite being a holiday on Sunday. The LGH Principal Prof Anjum Habib Vohra and Medical Superintendent Dr Saeed Soban personally monitored the treatment.
The doctors operated the injured persons and provided necessary treatment to save their lives. Besides receiving serious injuries due to twin bomb blasts and firing of the terrorists, many patients were also suffering shock syndrome and they were being taken care of by the specialist psychiatrists and psychologists to normalise their disturbed mental condition due to brutal carnage.
Earlier, the government declared emergency in all hospitals of Lahore and directed to ensure presence of doctors, medicines and blood to provide quick treatment to the injured victims of the blast. However, the major casualty was handled by the doctors in Lahore General Hospital, while some of the patients were also reported to have gone to other hospitals on their own.
Besides, Adviser to Chief Minister on Health, Khawaja Salman Rafiq, other ministers, including Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan, Bilal Yasin, Commissioner Lahore Abdullah Sumbal, DCO Lahore Capt (r) Muhammad Usman and others inquired after the patients and directed the administration to ensure quality treatment to the injured.
Meanwhile, during a visit to the hospital, it was witnessed that the family members of the victims, including fathers, mothers, siblings and other relatives were running from one ward to the other to search for their loved ones, who either died or injured due to bomb blast and firing by the terrorists. A large number of people had also gathered outside the hospital to donate blood and facilitate the injured ones and the staff of the hospital. Besides, heavy contingents of police and other law enforcement agencies were also deployed in and around the LGH soon after the blast to deal with any untoward incident. The police and volunteers were properly checking and frisking bodies of the visitors to allow them entry to see the patients.
Quite a few Christian families were also observed shouting at the police personnel outside the main entrance of the hospital for their failure in protecting them. The Christian community protested against the Federal Minister/Senator Kamran Michael for such a serious lapse of security, and the hospital administration helped him to go out from the rear exit of the emergency ward.
The blood was smeared on the clothes of the persons, who helped in transporting the patients and bodies to the hospital. The correspondent talked to one such person Rehmat, who lost his one son named Musa, 16, in the blast, whereas the other son named Shehzad, 20, also received critical injuries. ‘My sons were at a meat shop near the churches when the blast occurred and they received serious injuries,’ Rehmat narrated his tragedy, adding that Musa died on the way to the hospital and Shehzad was in a critical condition and still under treatment at the hospital. ‘Me and my brother brought both of them to LGH on a rickshaw for medical treatment,’ he said, and shared that besides a number of other people also brought their injured ones to the hospital on self-help basis on rickshaws and motorbikes. ‘Rescue 1122 was also bringing the injured to the hospital though,’ he added.
Another person named Arsalan, who lost his brother named Akash, 20, in the blast told The News that his brother was serving as a volunteer at St. Jones Church of the Catholics and sacrificed his life while stopping one suicide bomber from entering the main building of the church where prayers were being offered at that time. Similarly, another volunteer Yousaf alias Goga also stopped the second bomber and sacrificed his life in front of Christchurch of the Protestants. ‘Hundreds of people may have lost their lives had the terrorists succeeded in entering the church building,’ he added.
According to him, a few volunteers were performing duty of security outside each church in Christian parish and some of them were also equipped with weapons. When Akash grabbed the suicide bomber after spotting him, he blew himself up the very next moment.
An injured person named Khalid Masih told The News that he was inside a church when he got injuries due to shrapnel that hit him at the chest as a result of the blast. According to him, all the doors were closed due to which no suicide bomber could be able to enter the main buildings of the two churches.