After 26/11, Mumbai hospitals gearing up to tackle emergencies

Drawing lessons from the 26/11 terror strikes, hospitals in the city are equipping themselves to deal with emergency situations, an area in which they were found deficient during the attacks.

Six months after the attacks, Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) has been entrusted with the task of emergency planning and gearing up both private and government hospitals to tackle man-made and natural emergency conditions.

Apart from grappling with the problem of huge patient intake in municipal and government hospitals, MCGM is giving emphasis to safe building structures, escape routes, evacuation areas, fire-fighting facilities and security of patients and doctors in the event of an attack, assistant municipal commissioner Kishore Gajbhiye said.

Lessons learnt from the 26/11 attack on Cama hospital in South Mumbai which was seized by the two terrorists -- one of being Mohammad Ajmal Amir who was later captured alive -- will be incorporated in the emergency planning, he said.

The corporation is also trying to promote shared responsibilities with private hospitals during emergencies and a good network system has been established, Gajbhiye said.

Dr Sanjay Oak, director of Medical Education and Research and Dean KEM Hospital of MCGM, said that KEM will have a cluster of multi-storeyed hospital buildings having quake-proof and lightning-proof features.

There would be close-circuit TV and evacuation systems, Oak said.

The first 21-storeyed hospital building, which is under construction, will be ready by December 2010 or March 2011.

Restoration of the heritage building housing the college in KEM hospital premises is also being carried out to improve the safety conditions for the patients during normal as well during emergency conditions, Oak said.

"We are also insisting on crowd management in the existing hospital structure. CCTVs installed in the hospital after 26/11 attacks have helped to nab thieves," he said.

KEM hospital manages 1,800 in-patients, 5,500 outpatients and 20,000 visitors daily.

Dr Gustad Daver, Medical director of PD Hinduja Hospital said there was a need for collective responsibility of the hospitals in the city.

During emergencies, distribution of patients to private hospitals has become a reality after serial train bomb blasts in 2006 and 26/11 to reduce the burden on the state-owned hospitals, but this practice should continue, he said.

Some doctors and building experts suggested that efforts should be made to decongest hospitals by staggered arrangement for visitors and patients' relatives.

"After November 26 terror attacks, Hinduja issued only one pass per visiting relative which helped in controlling the crowd," Daver said.

Dr Jairaj Thanekar, executive health officer, said MCGM is coming up with a cluster of multi-storeyed hospital to handle the cases in North Mumbai where the public health care facilities are inadequate at present.

He also suggested incorporating ideas from army which erects temporary structures during emergency situations.

Dr Ravindra Karanjekar, GM and head of Wockhardt Hospitals said to ensure complete safety for patients and to decongest the hospital areas, they are in process of having close circuit interactive televisions.

Director of HOSMAC India Vivek Desai, who gives consultations on hospital buildings, said currently there were no standards set for hospital buildings in India.

Desai said a proposal suggesting dividing Mumbai into 26 zones was submitted to the MCGM. It would enable taking a patient to the nearest centre in well-equipped emergency trauma handling ambulances in not more than 20 minutes.

Delhi, Hyderabad and Gujarat have implemented similar systems devised given by him, according to him.