The evacuated in-patients from the hospital were placed beneath the tents in their hospital beds
There was no electricity for the first 8 hours; communications were impossible as there was no mobile phone network for the first day and no running water for the first 5 days.
Led by Head of Orthopeadics, Professor Sohail Sahbzada, the medical staff at AMC performed surgical procedures under the tents erected in the car park.
The operating theatre in the Accident & Emergency department was functional at midnight on day 1. The four main theatres on the ground floor were functional on day 3 but sterilisation of instruments was difficult as there was no running water for first 5 days.
AMC treated approximately 8000 casualties in first 10 days with major and minor injuries. Of the 8000 injured, 333 patients were admitted to AMC and of these:-
Lost homes 85%
Lost immediate family members 55%
Lost main bread earners (died) 9%
Needed rehabilitation 50%
The effect of the earthquake was not only physical injuries but many patients were still traumatised and the result of this devastation would have far reaching affects on family life for the future.
From the audit, one can see the majority of the patients had orthopaedic injuries.
Many earthquake victims with head and abdominal trauma had unfortunately succumbed to their injuries .
On Day 10, the ICRC arrived and set up wards and brought much needed fresh medical supplies.
This facility was manned by the local medical and nursing staff and formed some sort of order within the chaotic scenes of the hospital grounds.
