Monday 11 April 2016

Kollam Fire Update and the IMA

Dear Colleague

Sunday was a real black day for Kollam people, with accidental explosion occurred during a competitive fireworks in the famous temple of Poottingal as part of yearly ritual.

The accident happened around 3.15am during the firework procession, which was conducted despite the stay by local complainant, followed by loss of power supply in the area which prevented the local people to understand the depth of the tragedy.

The real rescue work started around 6am, and police force and local people started shifting people to various hospitals in and around Kollam in a very bad shape. Almost all of the bodies are mutilated which made the district medical officers job very difficult to conduct post mortem examination.

Rescue operations for the injured was done in an effective manner with private & public hospitals contributed their service in a flawless manner. Till now 110 people are declared dead of which only 50 bodies are identified and handed over to relatives.

This may not be the right number of death considering the popularity of event across Kerala and the state in which body parts are retrieved from the area. Total number of injured, some of them in a very bad shape, is around 300 as per the latest report which can go much high in view of heaviness of the blast and fumes.

Till now post mortem of around 75 is completed in Kollam district hospital in an appreciable manner & effective triage system that is called in to action in the district hospital though there was shortage of space.

Emergency rescue system in Kollam worked harmoniously in the wee hours of Sunday which is widely appreciated by media and public.

The herculean task in front of medical fraternity now is to bring in more service personal in the field of blast injury management and genetic identification of remaining 40 body parts.

This is an eye opener event to ban this sort of fireworks, which make the lives of innocent people at stake.

IMA involved actively at the site by providing enough man and expertise power to tide over the crisis.

Our National Immediate Past President Dr A Marthanda Pillai sir visited the site along with director of health services to tide over the crisis and boost the morale of rescue workers.

State IMA leaders also expressed their willingness to provide whatever needed in such situation, including supply of required blood which is the backbone of recovery in case of blast injuries.

Experts in this field are now here to look after the victims, who accompanied our Prime Minister and central Health Minister which really added impetus to the rescue work.

State IMA is planning to go to court to ban this sort of cultural activities which can cause such heart-breaking incidents in future  

 With deep hearted prayers for those fighting for their lives,,,,,,,,,

Dr SS Agarwal, Dr KK Aggarwal


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