Unconscious patient on the operating table, earthquake during surgery: experience of the disaster: Dr. Santosh writes

That operation took place during the second earthquake in Nepal … Where to leave the unconscious patient lying in the room unaware of the earthquake.

With many parts of Nepal isolated in the aftermath of the earthquake, the decision was made to introduce a helicopter ambulance, albeit a little expensive, as there were no other options. Thirty teams of doctors and search and rescue teams from Stanford University in America have started working in the helicopter. Volunteers from Nepal also joined. Along with medicines, the natives were to be provided with cereals, food and water. It was a very expensive arrangement. Thanks to the power of social media, people around the world have been able to get in touch quickly. The International Medical Corps alone managed to raise 160 lakh euros via Facebook, and this too in just 48 hours.

Team doctors treated people with minor injuries on the spot. The seriously injured were taken to Pathan Hospital in Kathmandu. The helicopter situation in Nepal was deplorable. The pilots, on the other hand, are not very experienced. The helicopters crashed several times. Once a helicopter crashed and three people died, including an MSF doctor.

Although aftershocks can occur at seismic sites, it is not common for another large earthquake to follow soon after. Nepal was followed by at least two major earthquakes after the main earthquake. I was in Kathmandu when it happened.

On May 12th at 12:30 pm … I was having surgery. Feeling of a shiver rising through the legs. As I looked at my feet, everything began to shake. Everyone runs into the operating room. I grabbed the operating table so as not to fall. At that moment I realized it was an earthquake. In the theater, the patient and the anesthetist Dr. Srivastava alone. Dr. Srivastava chewed on Ambubag incessantly.

Suddenly, fear took me. I got stuck inside the operating room shaking. The great shock lasted about two minutes and gradually subsided. I’m dr. He looked at Srivastava. A smile slowly spread across his face. ‘Let’s do it quickly,’ I laughed without realizing it. The surgery was completed quickly between further movements.

Dr. Srivastava was also inside the theater during the first earthquake. He told me the story of the first earthquake while I finished the rest of the operation. That day he was under anesthesia for thyroid surgery. The shaking was stronger that day. Even then the surgeon, the anesthetist and the patient remained in the room.

We woke the patient from the anesthesia and took him out of the hospital on a stretcher. I’m dr. Srivastava also went out to drink tea. We discussed why he didn’t run away. Also, both times the surgeons and the anesthetist stayed in the theater, which was very surprising. However, the cause had to wait for the next earthquake.

The next earthquake was on May 15th at 6pm. It recorded 7.2 on the Richter scale. We were eating in the hotel restaurant where we were staying. When the whole building started shaking, I knew it was an earthquake. Everyone jumped. This time I signed up. He ran to the nearby outdoor parking lot. For a while there was confusion and noise as usual.

Suddenly, Dr. I remembered Srivastava. She called him on the phone. He was with his family in the field near his home. He said with a laugh. ‘I was at home. When he started shaking, he took the children and his wife and ran into the nearby field. I also talked about running. We burst out laughing.

We understood this through laughter. Because we didn’t run when the earthquake happened in the theater, and because we ran when the earthquake happened later in the hotel. In the second incident we did not have an unconscious patient in front of us to avoid running.

We usually don’t leave until the surgery begins. Likewise, anesthetists do not shy away from the unconscious patient when their life is in their hands. We have realized that years of habits cannot be suddenly changed when disaster strikes and even when lives are at stake. (keep on)

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