Blast aftermath: Chaotic scenes at hospitals

Relatives complain about being left in the lurch; hospital receives 21 bodies, 56 injured.

RAWALPINDI/ ISLAMABAD:

Victims of the deadly Sabzi Mandi bombing has barely started coming into the emergency room when chaotic scenes began to break out at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), the capital’s primary public hospital.

Facilitation of those who lost loved ones quickly took a backseat to the opportunity to brownnose, as hospital officials were seen spending more time on the umpteen political figures dropping in to give the same speech to the same waiting cameras.

Though a majority of people were able to find the bodies of their loved ones, they had to scramble to arrange coffins and ambulances to take the bodies back to their hometowns.

Others were pacing between the ER and the morgue, desperately searching for their loved ones, reciting different prayers depending on which direction they were moving in.

Some of the people complained about the Pims mismanagement “further compounding their miseries by not facilitating them properly”.

But then, the management also failed to facilitate the dead and injured.

The hospital went short of blood, beds, stitching thread, coffins and ambulances. After this, it was no surprise that the Pims spokesperson and the administration could not agree on the number of bodies and injured the hospital had received.

Meanwhile, the only list of names of the dead and injured displayed on a wall by the administration was in English, while most of the victims were from lower-income backgrounds, making it unlikely that their close relatives would be able to read the language.

“I have been running from pillar to post since 9 o’clock asking doctors and administration staff to tell me if they have received a victim named Muhammad Karim. They just kept referring me to each other. Now that I’ve found his body in the morgue, I do not have a coffin or an ambulance to take him home [to Swat],” said Sajjad Khan, a relative of the deceased Karim.

He lashed out at the politicians who visited Pims but did not make any effort to help “dozens of grieving people”.

“They came, stood in front of the media, condemned the blast, and then they left,” he said.

Rasul Khan, whose friend Talha, 35, who was killed in the blast, said, “I have to take his body to Mohmand Agency as none of his relatives live here. I am trying to arrange a private ambulance but they are demanding Rs10,000. Where will I get that kind of money?”

Relatives of Miraj Khan, 35, a fruit vendor, who died en route to the hospital were among the few who were able to get a coffin — a broken one — from the mortuary to transport his body.

“We have the body but we do not have an ambulance to take him back,” said Hameed Gul, a paternal uncle of Khan’s. The fruit vendor was the sole breadwinner for his wife and five children.

Meanwhile, with three young children in tow, Rukhsana Bibi was searching for her husband, Mohammad Gulfaraz, 28, a taxi driver who used to go to Sabzi Mandi every morning to transport fruit for local vendors.

“We have checked all the hospitals in Rawalpindi and Islamabad but did not get any information,” Bibi said.

Pims Spokesperson Dr Ayesha Eshani said that the hospital received 21 bodies and 56 injured.

Out of the 56 injured, three died while under treatment, six were in critical condition, and nine had been discharged when this report was filed.

She said 20 of the bodies received had been handed over to relatives, while the 21st, still unidentified, is still in the morgue.

She added that samples of the partial remains of another unidentified victim have been sent for DNA testing.

At Holy Family

The Holy Family Hospital administration confirmed that three of the victims it had received were dead — Zahir Khan, Malik Usman, and Kabeer.

Rescue 1122 claimed they have shifted 37 injured to HFH. Children were in tears at the sight of blood near the ambulance bay, fearing it may be from the people they had come looking for.

As was the scene in Pims, relatives ran from pillar-to-post looking for their kith and kin.

Muhammad Ali, who was searching for his 25-year old brother, was begging a doctor for help. He told The Express Tribune that he had already been to Pims and District Headquarters Hospital.

“What have [the bombers] achieved by doing this to my boy,” wept 62-year old Yousaf Jan, whose son Bilal would get to the market at 3am every day to unload vans.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 10^th, 2014.